Bays Precinct public meeting

I'll be speaking at a public meeting on the Bays Precinct development, Wentworth Park, the Fish Markets and social housing.

The meeting will be held at Glebe Youth Service, 184 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, on Wednesday May 3rd from 6-8pm. Entry is by donation to Hands Off Glebe.

The Bays Precinct is of extraordinary strategic significance, not just to its local community, but to all the people of Sydney and NSW.

There is much community anger over recent development of major public lands - most notably Barangaroo and Darling Harbour. The community has been ignored, decisions have been shrouded in secrecy, excellence in planning and design has been bypassed and public good has been blatantly overridden by private interest.

The government is set to massively increase development density in the Blackwattle Bay area, but we have not seen any proposals that meet the already existing unmet demand for public open spaces, child care facilities and spaces for children to play.

We need to make sure the designs the government is soliciting for the new fish markets site do not threaten the precious playing fields and open public space in Wentworth Park.

We need more, not less, sporting and recreation facilities on our harbour for our growing community.

And we certainly need to make sure that the few we have – like Wentworth Park – aren’t imposed on by developers planning a glorified shopping centre.

We have already seen with White Bay Power Station that the proposals put forward by developers were so rapacious that even UrbanGrowth NSW could not accept them.

Without strong community pressure, there's a risk that UrbanGrowth and the government will turn the Bays Precinct into a developers' paradise sidelining the community, strategic planning and public interest.

The Bays Precinct will must deliver world-class urban renewal for Sydney, not a huge private windfall at the expense of the public.

Showing 1 reaction

Daniel Sturrock commented 2017-04-29 05:45:50 +1000
When is the Government going to run a design competition? Isn’t that the logical starting point?

FERRIES AT ANNANDALE AND WEST BALMAIN

Imagine hopping on a ferry at Annandale or West Balmain and being in the heart of the city within minutes.

In 2020, we won the campaign for a Glebe ferry. Now, we have the opportunity to connect more of our area to the ferry network. New ferries at Annandale and West Balmain will provide a faster, smarter route into the city without adding to the traffic on our roads.

Both Labor and the Liberals want to build more polluting and destructive tollways across Sydney. But we have costed a comprehensive plan for a world-class public transport system that makes getting around our city fast and easy.

Dear Transport Minister,

New inner west ferry services would provide efficient, fast and environmentally sound travel to and from the area for workers, tourists, students, pensioners and the general public.

I therefore ask that the Government build on the success of the Blackwattle Bay ferry and establish a ferry service at Rozelle Bay for the Annandale area and reinstate the ferry at West Balmain.

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