LORD MAYOR'S OFFICE AND SANDRA NORI WRITE TO TONY KELLY

In a surge of support for our cause this week, the Lord Mayor Clover Moore and Deputy Lord Mayor Verity Firth have written to Tony Kelly, Minister for Lands, asking that sale of the land be deferred and that the land be retained for public use. MP Sandra Nori has also made representations on our behalf.

CLOVER MOORE wrote:
"I am concerned that the Department of Lands' decision to dispose of this site may not adequately respond to the Principles of Crown Land Management set out in Secion 11 of the Crown Lands Act 1989. These principles require the protection and conservation of the environment and the encouragement of public use and enjoyment of public land. They also call for Crown land to be used and managed so that both the land and its resources are sustained in perpetuity. Any occupation, sale, lease or other use of Crown land should be consistent with those principles.

I share local residents' concern about sale of the site and believe that publicly owned open space in densely populated areas should not be sold for development where it can be used to continued public benefit. This site is planted with approximately 12 mature eucalypts that are 12 to 15 metres in height and around 25-30 years old. The trees wil be lost if the land is sold for development.

This land could be retained in public ownership if you were to consider vesting it in Council under seciton 76 of the Act, with the Council undertaking the long-term care and management as a local park for the benefit of the community.

I ask you to defer the pending auction to enable a meeting of senior officers to discuss a strategy to retain this land in Crown ownership. Please.....arrange a suitable time to meet."

(copy of this letter was received by us on 19/4/06)