Newsletter 26 – Parks

State Government’s war on North Sydney’s open green spaces.

The State Government is:

• moving to massively increase the number of apartments in North Sydney and, at the same time
• plundering of our parks and open green spaces – immediately it’s seizing our parklands to build the Western Harbour and Beaches tunnels
  • 3 hectares permanently, a large part of Cammeray Golf Club (see the cross-hatched area on the plan below), and
  • 3 hectares temporarily major sections of St Leonards Park and the remaining part of Cammeray Golf Club.

The State Government has promised there will be no net loss of parklands. Really!

What land is to be given in return that has not been promised by the Premier and re-promised by our local member in years past (in the run up to past elections)?

• None – absolutely none!

So, what could the State Government give in return?

For starters, if it wants to keep the seat of North Shore, it could get cracking by:

• delivering on its 2016 promise to make the land on the western shore of Berrys Bay available to our community now (first promised by the Premier in 2016);
• making the land that has been set aside for the Sydney Harbour HighLine available to the
  community now;
• undergrounding the Western Harbour and Beaches tunnels’ “administration building and service areas” it plans to leave on Cammeray Golf Course or, better still, locating them over the Warringah Expressway;
• converting the “abandoned” rail siding at St Leonards station to a park and playing field; and
• not giving over a large tract of Bradfield Park to a ramp and cycleway.

It’s about getting a fair deal for our North Sydney community and holding the Premier and our local member to account – at the very least they need to deliver on past promises.