[North Eveleigh] Update on Transport, Urbangrowth and North Eveleigh

Sat Dec 15 17:06:07 EST 2012

Dear All

With the end of the year fast approaching and Govt doing its usual
pre-Christmas releases I thought I would pass on my latest update to
REDWatch as a number of items are also of relevance to people around North
Eveleigh.

Redfern & NSW Long Term Transport Master Plan

I have now had a chance to look through the NSW Long Term Transport Master
Plan which was released on 13 December 2012.

I have gone through the document and again extracted the material that
directly relates to Redfern and immediate surrounds - you can see this
summary on the REDWatch website under Redfern
<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/station/121213tnswr> & NSW
Long Term Transport Master Plan . For those familiar with the Draft Report
there has been almost no change in the material that relates to Redfern
Station. In short Redfern Station is recognised as needing an upgrade along
with other City Circle stations but these upgrades are only ranked as a
medium priority.

What is interesting in the final report is an updated map showing the Growth
Precincts in Inner Sydney. This has changed from the draft and now includes
Ashmore Estate as well as Redfern and Waterloo public housing including the
Waterloo conservation area (similar to the BEP2 maps). While there have been
some small changes the map still shows the Darlington Conservation Area and
the Eastern side of Chippendale as Growth Precincts. You can see this map on
the REDWatch website at TNSW MP Inner Sydney Growth Precincts between 2011
and 2031 <http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/maps/121213tnsw/view> .

SMDA to become UrbanGrowth NSW

On 14 December the NSW Government gazetted the UrbanGrowth NSW Development
Corporation Order 2012 under the Growth Centres (Development Corporations)
Act 1974
<http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/sessionalview/sessional/subordleg/2012-61
8.pdf> . In effect the regulation forms UrbanGrowth NSW on 1 January 2013
and disbands the Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority from Schedule 1
of the Growth Centres Act. It also removes the requirement of a board and
places power in the hands of the Chief Executive. All references to the
Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority or the Redfern Waterloo Authority
will now apply to UrbanGrowth NSW. While UrbanGrowth does not currently
exist it has been advertising for staff over the last few months and on 11
December Sean O'Toole (Landcom CEO) briefed Newcastle Council from
UrbanGrowth NSW.

Some information is emerging about the end of the SMDA and the formation of
UrbanGrowth NSW. UrbanGrowth NSW will move into the SMDA offices and
commence on 1 January 2013. It will take over the SMDA website and rebadge
it as UrbanGrowth NSW. We are assured that all statutory documents on the
website will remain - unlike when the RWA was disbanded. As UrbanGrowth will
be run by a CEO responsible to the Minister the SMDA Board ceases to exist.

While some admin staff will continue at the UrbanGrowth NSW office CEO Roy
Wakelin King will not be one of them. Neither will well respected and long
servicing NGO human services liaison person Julie Parsons who finishes up
next week. Planning staff and contractors working on North Eveleigh, BEP2
and Heritage Works that will be taken over by UrbanGrowth will continue for
at least a time. UrbanGrowth NSW has set up a twitter account - @ugnsw which
describes the organisation as "UrbanGrowth NSW was established to address
the barriers to private sector investment in development projects in NSW".
Put that together with the Growth Precincts map mentioned earlier and we
could be headed for a very interesting 2013!

Annual Reports

The Annual Reports for the SMDA and the last 6 months of the RWA can be
downloaded from the links below. They are worth a read to see how the
Authorities see their activities and contribution to the area:

.         SMDA Annual Report 2011/2012
<http://www.smda.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/file_root/PDFs/News%26Resour
ces/SMDA_AnnualReport_2012_FULL_WEB_FINAL.pdf> 

.         RWA Annual Report 2011-2012
<http://www.smda.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/file_root/PDFs/About_Us/RWA_
annual_reports/RWA_Annual_Report_12.pdf> 

North Eveleigh Early Works and Parks

The SMDA have submitted their intention for the Affordable Housing at North
Eveleigh to the Department of Planning to obtain the Departments
requirements for their "DA". You can see the initial intention (including
proposed car allowance for different sized units) at North Eveleigh
Affordable Housing Project
<http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=57
08> .

The landscaping / park proposed near the Western entrance can be seen at
Landscaping for Park near North Eveleigh Western Entrance
<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/northeveleigh/ahousing/1212
03smda> 

Finally a reminder that if you have any suggestions to make regarding the
planning for the two parks on the Newtown end of the park please get these
in in the next couple of days - for more details see North Eveleigh Parks -
Invitation to Contribute to Design by 17 December 2012.
<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/northeveleigh/ahousing/1212
17smda> 

North Eveleigh Heritage Works

Work has started around the Chief Mechanical Engineers building - you can
see the SMDA flyer  here
<http://www.smda.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/file_root/PDFs/News%26Resour
ces/CME_Brochure_Final_291112.pdf> . There have been some concerns raised
about the removal of plane trees in front of the CMEs building to the
Redfern Station end of the North Eveleigh site. This primarily seems related
to neighbours not being involved in any discussions before the sign went up
on the trees to say they could come down in two days. Concerns were raised
with Council and the SMDA and the tree removal has been delayed a week. If
you have any concerns regarding this matter please contact Juliet Suich by
email at juliet.suich at smda.nsw.gov.au or on 9202 9118. I have material on
this from Council and the SMDA if more information is required.

North Eveleigh Working Group

A North Eveleigh Working Group has been formed to bring people together to
work around the North Eveleigh site. If you want to be kept up to date with
what is happening at North Eveleigh you can also join an email list for
information about this site at
http://lists.redwatch.org.au/mailman/listinfo/NorthEveleigh.

Marg Barry Memorial Lecture

Dr Dallas Rogers has been doing some work on REDWatch recently and on 6
December he gave part of the Annual Marg Barry Memorial Lecture. His paper
entitled "The NSW State Plan, community participation and affordable
housing: Tensions between democracy and market-centric development" explores
10 tensions between democratic expectations and democratic realities in
tenant organising. In the paper REDWatch is cited as an example of a
monitory democracy organisation. You can download the paper from the
REDWatch website under Dallas Rogers explores 10 tensions between democratic
expectations and realities in tenant organising
<http://www.redwatch.org.au/issues/public-housing/participation/121206dr/vie
w> . The file is 2MB PDF. 

South Sydney Herald's new website

You can now access individual articles in the South Sydney Herald from their
new website - check it out at www.southsydneyherald.com.au. Here are the
direct links to the shorts I had in the last SSH on issues around Darlington
- 

.         Darlington traffic and transport
<http://www.southsydneyherald.com.au/darlington-traffic-and-transport/> 

.         Work starts on North Eveleigh
<http://www.southsydneyherald.com.au/work-starts-on-north-eveleigh/> 

.         Stopping heritage rot
<http://www.southsydneyherald.com.au/stopping-heritage-rot/> 

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, a restful holiday period and a great
2013!

Regards,

Geoff

Geoffrey Turnbull

Spokesperson

REDWatch

Ph Wk: (02) 8004 1490  Mob: 0418 457 392

email: mail at redwatch.org.au 

web: www.redwatch.org.au 

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