Clover's eNews—Friday, 18 November 2005—No. 273ENHANCED DESIGN FOR REDFERN AND REGENT STREETSThe City’s $20 million Redfern and Regent Street upgrade project will create a more vibrant, attractive and safe shopping and pedestrian precinct through improvements to the public domain. The upgrade will provide widener footpaths, more trees, new street furniture and a pedestrian/bicycle friendly environment. The works will create a strong identity for the precinct and reclaim it for all the local community as an active heart for Redfern. You can comment in detail on the plans at the Redfern Community Forum next Tuesday, 22 November 2005 at Redfern Town Hall. The City will run a workshop on the upgrade from 7.00pm, following the usual Forum opportunity to talk directly with Clover, Councillors and staff at 6.00 pm. Following consultation around initial designs in 2003 and 2004, a revised concept design has been developed and was endorsed by Council in October. The City is now proceeding with further community consultation to develop the detailed designs. The revised concept includes further strategies to create a more pedestrian and cyclist friendly environment, provides greater opportunities for outdoor seating and street life, and extends the upgrades to adjacent laneways. The proposed work includes:
Following detailed design and development approval, the City plans construction to begin in the second half of next year, with the project due to be complete by Christmas 2007. Energy Australia is expected to begin undergrounding of cables in January 2006 and be completed by July 2006. The Redfern and Regent Street upgrade is a vital component in the City’s $50 million commitment over four years to revitalise services and facilities in south Sydney. The work includes upgrades to Redfern Park, Prince Alfred Park and pool, Waterloo skate park, other local parks and reserves around the Block area and in East Redfern, and child care places in Alexandria and Redfern. More information:
“CITY PLAN” CONSULTATIONS BEGINThe first community consultations for the new “City Plan” will occur over the next two weeks, with three public meetings on Urban Design Studies at Glebe, Kings Cross and Surry Hills. The studies are background work vital to develop core planning controls, such as height and floor space ratios. The City Plan, a single Development Control Plan (DCP) and Local Area Plan (LEP) for the whole City, is due to be complete for consideration by the State Minister for Planning at the end of 2006. The new City Plan will integrate and replace the multiple sets of planning controls which the City inherited following the transfer of Glebe and Forest Lodge from Leichhardt Council and the amalgamation of the former South Sydney and City of Sydney Councils. As part of preparing the new City Plan, Council has engaged consultants to undertake detailed Urban Design Studies in priority precincts where the existing planning controls have been found to have particular or significant problems. The community consultation workshops are an important part of the Urban Design Studies. They will give residents input into the City Plan by enabling you to say what you like about the urban form of your area: what should be the height, density and bulk of buildings? The first three Urban Design Study consultation workshops will be:
Early next year, community workshops will begin for Urban Design Studies in two other identified priority areas: Green Square (including Alexandria, Zetland and part of Waterloo); and Redfern, Eveleigh, Darlington and part of Waterloo. For further information please contact Erin Brady, Manager City Planning, by phone on 9265 9935 or by email on ebrady2@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. MISINFORMATION ABOUT REDFERN PARK CORRECTEDThis week in Parliament I corrected misinformation about the City of Sydney’s plans to upgrade Redfern Park, particularly suggestions that the City is excluding the Rabbitohs from Redfern Oval and that a large stadium will secure the future of the vital South Sydney PCYC facility. The City’s $19 million upgrade of Redfern Park and Redfern Oval will include a professional-level training field for the Rabbitohs to maintain its historic links, with a total ground capacity of 8000. The Oval will have a new grandstand on the site of the existing stand, including facilities such as change rooms, storage and weights room. Redfern oval is public land currently locked away from the public. It is unsafe, unsightly and under-used, due to the South’s failure to do work required under its lease from the former South Sydney City Council. The Rabbitohs have not played a match at Redfern Oval since 1996 and have never played an NRL game there. The site is not suitable for a stadium of over 20,000 needed for NRL games; would not be viable if built for crowds of 12,000 to 15,000 required for some NRL home games; and is not even needed—Aussie Stadium is less than two kilometres away. As well as providing the Rabbitohs with a first class training facility, the field will be accessible for all football codes and other outdoor activities for junior and senior teams and individual athletes. It will be managed and maintained to a high standard by Council. The design will provide access to areas around the field for everybody and expand green space in Redfern, which has an average of 0.55 hectare per 1000 people, compared with an average of 2.85 hectare across the City, and a population predicted to more than double to 40,000 by 2015. The NSW PCYC and South Sydney Leagues Club proposal for a large building —including two undercover basketball courts, corporate boxes, cafés and car parking—is unacceptable. This is the short-sighted thinking of the past that saw so many of our great parks reduced or compromised. The proposal is also unworkable—it will not achieve the Leagues Clubs’ suggested oval capacity of over 12,000 spectators and faces a funding short fall of over $10 million. The scheme involves putting PCYC facilities in a grandstand around 19 metres high and 115 meters long (over twice the height and length of the existing grandstand), with embankments around the field between four and 5.5 metres high. This has significant environmental impacts, but will only achieve seating for about 8,200—little more than Council’s recommendation. The proposed grandstand facility will also cost more than $20 million on its own. Council has budgeted $19 million in total to upgrade the oval, with around half of this for a grandstand. The State Government is seeking to move the PCYC in order to develop its current site for high density residential and is presumably seeking to make a profit from the sale of the site. The current 3760 square metre PCYC site may yield in excess of $10 million. I strongly support the PCYC’s work and believe that the State Government should leave the facility at its present location—ideally situated between the Redfern Estate and Redfern Park and oval. NSW PCYC has reported that it might receive funding from the State Government for its relocation. This would be better used to make their existing site an even better facility. For further information:
VOLUNTEERS IN REDFERN POLICINGRedfern Local Area Command is looking for community minded and dedicated people to work with local police in the community as volunteers in policing. Volunteers usually help in providing support to victims of crime and might be involved in other community activities such as Police Open Day and local crime prevention initiatives. An information session will be held soon. For more information, call Senior Constable Georgie Israel at Redfern Police on 8303 5199. GLEBE STREET FAIR TURNS 22This Sunday, 20 November, the Glebe Street Fair celebrates its 22nd anniversary in and around Glebe Point Road, Glebe. One of the oldest established community street fairs in Sydney, it features over 200 stalls and attracts over 120,000 people annually. The Fair is now described on international websites as “the Taste of Glebe”, highlighting the wide array of cuisines on offer, and “a whole kilometre of Christmas presents—end to end”. As well as food and gifts, the Fair features life music and entertainment, including the hugely popular Sydney Performer Challenge, street theatre, children’s entertainment, a wine tasting competition, a competition to find the best of our baristas, and Magnificent Creatures - your chance to check out the talent of some of the most interesting pets in town. The City supports the Fair through its Memorandum of Understanding with the Glebe Chamber of Commerce, the Fair’s organisers. Cr Robyn Kemmis will represent me at the opening of the Fair from 11am. I invite you to join the Fair, which continues into the evening. EVENT ALERT!
WWW.CLOVERMOORE.COMClover's eNews is a regular update to keep the community informed on important issues, events and campaigns. To join the free email subscription list, email clover@clovermoore.com with SUBSCRIBE eNEWS in the subject and your name, email address and suburb in the body of the email. You can also subscribe here on line. — Clover Moore, Independent Member for Bligh |
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