The NSW Minister for Planning has committed to develop a model for community and stakeholder involvement in the Greater Sydney Parklands agency following concerns raised by Jamie Parker MP that Callan Park could be lost within the new mega agency.
The Minister has explicitly identified the Friends of Callan Park and council as bodies that will be given a voice within the new Greater Sydney Parklands agency.
This new agency will be structured as a common board for the existing parklands trusts. The Minister has previously made a commitment that the Callan Park (Special Provisions) Act 2002 which protects the site from privatisation and commercial use will be maintained.
Jamie Parker MP for Balmain says:
“It is only thanks to our community that there are not massive apartment blocks on Callan Park today.
“Locking out residents and community organisations, like the Friends of Callan Park, who are responsible for saving this site would completely delegitimise this new agency.
“I’m pleased that the Minister has listened to our calls to explicitly include to the Friends of Callan Park and the Inner West Council as bodies who need to be included in this new structure.
“Community representation is absolutely essential to make sure that that decisions are being made by the people who actually use Callan Park and have a long, successful history of defending it.
“This new agency is untested so we have to do everything possible to make sure Callan Park doesn’t get lost in this structure and continues to be protected from any attempt by future governments to sell-off or commercialise it.
“Local representation within this agency will mean that the residents and community groups who have successfully defended this site for decades will have a hand in protecting and improving Callan Park into the future,” he says.
28 July 2020
