Stockland will move forward with plans for its 29-storey mixed-use development in Epping after receiving approval from Sydney’s Central City Planning Panel.

Despite community pushback describing the 29-storey tower’s height breach as “excessive” the $181 million development, at 29-33 Oxford Street and 6-14 Cambridge Street, was deemed by the panel as “in the public interest”.

The application was approved subject to the condition Stockland developed an emergency evacuation plan for the residential aged care component, for each resident requiring assistance with mobility.

Stockland’s development comprises 132-bed residential care facility, 205 independent seniors living units, and four church presbytery units.

It also includes a multiple-level primary school building on the site’s southern side, and up to 372 basement car parking spaces.

The ASX-listed property group announced it had entered into a partnership with the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay to redevelop the church and school site into a retirement living and primary school in May 2018.

The project was lodged in August of that year, with plans for the existing heritage-listed church will be preserved.

In March, Stockland purchased the undeveloped portion of The Gables, a 293-hectare master-planned residential community in Sydney’s Box Hill for $415 million, with plans to deliver up to 1,900 dwellings over the life of the project.