Rural villages across Sydney’s fringe play a vital role as social, economic, and cultural centres for their surrounding landscapes. In The Hills Shire, places like Glenorie village offer a rare blend of rural charm and essential services—supermarkets, schools, medical facilities, and community spaces.
These villages are not intended to absorb large-scale residential growth; instead, state and local planning frameworks emphasise protecting their character, supporting rural industries and responding to local needs through careful, place-based planning.
This underpins The Hills Shire Council’s Rural Strategy and Local Strategic Planning Statement, which identify Glenorie as a village that could benefit from modest, sympathetic growth. Glenorie has become the first focus area. Hornsby Shire, which shares the village centre along Old Northern Road has recently completed their own Rural Lands study for Glenorie.
The Glenorie Study Area spans 86 hectares and includes a mix of low-density homes, rural lots and shop-top housing. The draft Glenorie Place Strategy sets out a long-term vision for a thriving village that supports local agritourism, nurseries and floriculture, while offering more housing choice through semi-rural and while offering more housing choice through semi-rural and environmental living lots. A small population increase would help sustain local shops, hospitality and services, strengthening Glenorie as a place to live, visit and thrive.
Community engagement has been central to shaping the Strategy. The draft was exhibited alongside detailed technical studies, with material available online, at Council’s administration building, and at multiple drop-in sessions and a facilitated community workshop which I attended back in November 2025.
Council officers met with residents, landowners and stakeholders to discuss ideas, concerns and aspirations. The workshop attracted strong attendance and revealed a wide spectrum of views—from better pedestrian and transport infrastructure to mixed opinions on housing diversity, road connections and retail expansion.
More than 120 submissions were received, reflecting the community’s interest in Glenorie’s future. While views varied, one theme was clear: people care deeply about preserving the village’s rural identity. The Glenorie Place Strategy aims to hold that sentiment. The plan aims to supporting renewal, enhancing character and ensuring the village grows not bigger, but better.
I have been genuinely impressed by the engagement of the community in this plan and the conversations that I have had with many in the study are and Glenorie more generally. Resident and landholder feedback and input help shape plans such as these.