WestConnex project to acquire more of Sydney Park

Date
    January 17, 2016
    Sydney Morning Herald

More slices of the award-winning inner-city Sydney Park will be carved off to make way for the WestConnex motorway and surrounding roads.   :(

The state government has already said it would reclaim long-reserved corridors on the edges of the park to build wider roads near the WestConnex interchange planned for St Peters.

But the government wrote to City of Sydney Council late last year saying it intended to compulsorily acquire other sections of the park.


The development is sure to inflame tensions in the area, where affection for the park is strong – as is opposition to the $16.8 billion motorway.   :(

"It's like cutting into our backyard," said Bethany Woollatt, who lives in St Peters opposite the park and uses it daily with her two-year-old daughter.

"They've just spent a long time building this park up and making it into a really lovely, usable, friendly space," she said.


Joggers on Campbell Road, St Peters, in the part of Sydney Park that will be acquired as part of the WestConnex project.

"From the point of view of someone who uses the park as often as we do, it's never nice seeing something that's been built up and beautiful being destroyed."   :(

The new areas to be acquired for the motorway, which the council says will result in the loss of 350 trees, amount to about 6000 square metres of land. That is in addition to the 8000 square metres already reserved for wider roads.

Some of that land should be returned to the community as parkland once the motorway is built – the intention is to use it as a construction site.

But the 41.6-hectare Sydney Park has been subject to significant remediation and landscaping, an effort that has won it a Green Flag, an international award for parks.

The loss of trees, many of which have been tagged with blue ribbons by WestConnex opponents, was criticised by locals such as Ms Woollatt, and by Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

"The loss of around 350 trees to construct a spaghetti style interchange next to Sydney Park is a shocking development in the government's pursuit of the controversial WestConnex motorway," the mayor said.   :(

"I am absolutely opposed to the government compulsorily acquiring precious public land for a 1950s motorway that will increase, not reduce, congestion."

The largest plot to be acquired is just north of the industrial Campbell Road in St Peters, and adjacent to one of the park's wetland lakes. According to the environmental impact statement for the M5 East section of the WestConnex motorway, this area is intended to be used as a construction site and will be returned as parkland.

However the overall WestConnex project, which includes new roads to the airport, as well as a longer tunnel under the inner west from St Peters to Haberfield via Rozelle and Camperdown, is not slated to be finished until 2023.

A spokeswoman for the Sydney Motorway Corporation said the acquisitions would allow surrounding roads to be widened and upgraded to reduce "the frustrating congestion currently faced everyday by motorists in the area".

The project would not only remove "an ugly and highly contaminated blight" in the old Alexandria landfill site, but would ultimately provide "a significant extension of open space" that would more than offset losses elsewhere, the spokeswoman said.

The 4000-square-metre section of park adjacent to the southern wetland lake would be used temporarily during construction and would be "rehabilitated and returned for use as open space", the spokeswoman said.

https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=sydney%20park&ytcheck=1

Is this a classic  case of 'nimbyism'? Buy a house in one of the  most built-up, desirable areas in Australia's  most populous  city and then cry about...DEVELOPMENT!

captain spaulding wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 2:28pm:

Is this a classic  case of 'nimbyism'? Buy a house in one of the  most built-up, desirable areas in Australia's  most populous  city and then cry about...DEVELOPMENT!

I'm pretty sure Sydney Park is not a built up area ...  :D

captain spaulding wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 2:28pm:

Is this a classic  case of 'nimbyism'? Buy a house in one of the  most built-up, desirable areas in Australia's  most populous  city and then cry about...DEVELOPMENT!

No it isn't.  An area like that needs all the parkland it gan get.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWwUJH70ubM

The sooner that everything is concreted over the better off we'll all be, we need more Italians.   :)

innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 6:56pm:

The sooner that everything is concreted over the better off we'll all be, we need more Italians.   :)

You mean Greeks don't you? Italians only concrete the front yard, they need dirt in the rear yard to grow tomatoes  :D :D :D :D :D

John Smith wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 6:58pm:

innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:56pm: The sooner that everything is concreted over the better off we'll all be, we need more Italians.   :) You mean Greeks don't you? Italians only concrete the front yard, they need dirt in the rear yard to grow tomatoes  :D :D :D :D :D

Actually when I thought about things that desperately need concreting over I was thinking of you  :)

innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 7:02pm:

John Smith wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:58pm: innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:56pm: The sooner that everything is concreted over the better off we'll all be, we need more Italians.   :) You mean Greeks don't you? Italians only concrete the front yard, they need dirt in the rear yard to grow tomatoes  :D :D :D :D :D Actually when I thought about things that desperately need concreting over I was thinking of you  :)

Innocent did funny  :D

Its time wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 7:09pm:

innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 7:02pm: John Smith wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:58pm: innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:56pm: The sooner that everything is concreted over the better off we'll all be, we need more Italians.   :) You mean Greeks don't you? Italians only concrete the front yard, they need dirt in the rear yard to grow tomatoes  :D :D :D :D :D Actually when I thought about things that desperately need concreting over I was thinking of you  :) Innocent did funny  :D

He did indeed! I giggled a little.

innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 7:02pm:

John Smith wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:58pm: innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:56pm: The sooner that everything is concreted over the better off we'll all be, we need more Italians.   :) You mean Greeks don't you? Italians only concrete the front yard, they need dirt in the rear yard to grow tomatoes  :D :D :D :D :D Actually when I thought about things that desperately need concreting over I was thinking of you  :)

admit it, You're always thinking of me  :-* :-*

Setanta wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 8:55pm:

Its time wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 7:09pm: innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 7:02pm: John Smith wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:58pm: innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:56pm: The sooner that everything is concreted over the better off we'll all be, we need more Italians.   :) You mean Greeks don't you? Italians only concrete the front yard, they need dirt in the rear yard to grow tomatoes  :D :D :D :D :D Actually when I thought about things that desperately need concreting over I was thinking of you  :) Innocent did funny  :D He did indeed! I giggled a little.

The record abuse thread has certainly kept me entertained of late.

Its time wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 9:26pm:

Setanta wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 8:55pm: Its time wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 7:09pm: innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 7:02pm: John Smith wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:58pm: innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:56pm: The sooner that everything is concreted over the better off we'll all be, we need more Italians.   :) You mean Greeks don't you? Italians only concrete the front yard, they need dirt in the rear yard to grow tomatoes  :D :D :D :D :D Actually when I thought about things that desperately need concreting over I was thinking of you  :) Innocent did funny  :D He did indeed! I giggled a little. The record abuse thread has certainly kept me entertained of late.

I had a post deleted there that suggested a change of title to "classic quotes of OzPol" and sublimely abused every one but it got deleted, I even told off someone that commented on my abuse, that is gone too.

Setanta wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 9:44pm:

Its time wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 9:26pm: Setanta wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 8:55pm: Its time wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 7:09pm: innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 7:02pm: John Smith wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:58pm: innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 17th, 2016 at 6:56pm: The sooner that everything is concreted over the better off we'll all be, we need more Italians.   :) You mean Greeks don't you? Italians only concrete the front yard, they need dirt in the rear yard to grow tomatoes  :D :D :D :D :D Actually when I thought about things that desperately need concreting over I was thinking of you  :) Innocent did funny  :D He did indeed! I giggled a little. The record abuse thread has certainly kept me entertained of late. I had a post deleted there that suggested a change of title to "classic quotes of OzPol" and sublimely abused every one but it got deleted, I even told off someone that commented on my abuse, that is gone too.

:)

You wouldn't move to Mascot, St.Peters, Newtown, Alexandria and the other surrounding suburbs if you were bothered by concrete.  BTW, how is Sydney Park beautiful?  It's an old glass factory surrounded by council planted trees and a polluted creek full of old bongs.

captain spaulding wrote on Jan 17^th, 2016 at 2:28pm:

Is this a classic  case of 'nimbyism'? Buy a house in one of the  most built-up, desirable areas in Australia's  most populous  city and then cry about...DEVELOPMENT!

...easy fixed.

All these whingers should donate their own properties for reclamation as parklands for public use  :D