CAMPAIGN ALERT – Glaring omission in Council’s report on green plan for Forest Lodge and Annandale

The City of Sydney Council has recently posted a report on a major initiative to create more green space in the Forest Lodge and Annandale areas. The report mentions a new park in Wood Street (including Orphan School Creek Gully). It also mentions possible purchase of 5,000m2 of land from the State Rail Authority, using $54 million devoted to the Greening Sydney Campaign. There is no mention of the land at rear of Hereford Street Glebe in this report, despite our campaign to save this land from sale and development and despite Council’s unanimous vote to negotiate with the Department of Lands regarding options for retention of the land in public ownership as public open space.

Curiously, the report headline announcing Council’s initiatives is a version of rallying calls we have used on our banners and blog - ‘Save the Forest in Forest Lodge’ and ‘Keeping the Forest in Forest Lodge’. Given the report’s omission of any reference to the land we have been campaigning to save, this is cruelly ironic.

While Forest Lodge residents welcome Council's initiatives, the report does raise a number of critical issues.

According to the Council CEO's memorandum on the purchase of the Wood St land, the whole of the land is contaminated and must be remediated. If this is necessary before the land can be revegetated, residents of Forest Lodge will have to wait for some time, perhaps years before they can benefit from an increase in the green space at Wood St. In the meantime the preservation of existing stands of mature native trees in the area becomes even more critical to the environmental health of our area. FRROGS noted this point in their letter to Council supporting our campaign - as far back as February:
"Until the Orphan School Gully project has reached its potential as habitat and resource value for local native bird species, all other local trees become more significant...There is planned demolition of the nearby Wood St site and the adjacent Orphan School Creek Gully, which is densely covered in exotic trees and weeds....Thus the trees at 77 Hereford St have assumed a greater role" (see blog archive for the letter in full).

It is imperative that we urgently seek clarification from Council on the status of the Hereford St site (now also known as 9 Alfred Rd).

IS THE DENSELY POPULATED AREA OF INNER FOREST LODGE BEING OVERLOOKED IN THE INTERESTS OF GRANDER PROJECTS CLOSER TO THE GLEBE FORESHORE?

WHAT STEPS HAS COUNCIL TAKEN TO IMPLEMENT ITS UNANIMOUS DECISION TO SAVE THE FOREST AT THE REAR OF 77 HEREFORD STREET?

Watch this space for news and campaign developments.

View Council’s report at http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/

KEEPING THE FOREST IN FOREST LODGE - Mick Tapsell's historical perspective

This little triangular patch of land, behind 77-85 Hereford St on Alfred Rd, belonging at the moment to the Lands Department, is a bit of an anachronism. It really shouldn’t be there. It has managed to survive because in the sixties a substantial portion of Glebe was earmarked for demolition to make way for a freeway from the city to the western suburbs. Lot 1 Alfred Rd (recently renamed 9 Alfred Rd), was on the southern edge of a cutting that was to go right through Forest Lodge hill. If you draw a rough line from south east of Wentworth Park to Lot 1 you can comprehend how much of Glebe was going to disappear.

In the meantime, a developer had bought the old dairy site, next to The Farmhouse at 75 Hereford St. When the 51 Units were built at No 77 in the seventies, the developer no doubt would like to have built on Lot 1, but the land had to be kept free for the new road. The developer managed to use as much of the old dairy land as he could, so his building goes right to the very boundary of Lot 1. Perhaps the idea was that the intended freeway below the building would have a sizable cutting, which would keep the building well clear of the actual road. However, it is still odd that the developer was permitted to build right to the boundary. At the time, three storey units in Glebe were considered good things, and certainly much better than the rows of old terrace slums. Nowadays, such a building would be considered inappropriate for the area, but the white brick with the mission brown trim was very trendy at the time.

Nevertheless, one local resident, who lived in 148 Hereford St, a Mr Robertson, was sufficiently horrified at the thought of an overlarge block of flats in his neighbourhood that he decided to do something about it. On his own initiative, he planted a lot of trees on the site. One cannot be absolutely sure if he planted the native trees at the rear on Lot 1, but given their age, it is quite probable that he did. He certainly planted the large trees on Hereford St at the front of the units. You can look at these today and be grateful for his initiative, for they give a natural screen to an otherwise forgettable piece of urban architecture. A walk around Forest Lodge hill will also reveal examples of the ubiquitous red brick blocks of the sixties and seventies, with no gardens or trees to speak of, just bland concrete around them. Old suburbs like Forest Lodge clearly display the mistakes in urban planning of past decades.

In the seventies, Government owned a substantial piece of Forest Lodge hill. Lot 1 and No. 75 Hereford St (the old Farmhouse) were in the hands of the Lands Department. No. 69 Hereford St, the largest piece of land, was owned by the Defence Department. The Farmhouse was sold first, bought by a developer in 1996, and despite the protestations of local residents who considered it of heritage value, promptly had three ordinary town houses, designed by a Leichhardt councillor, plonked in front of it. New arrivals to Forest Lodge are not even aware of the existence of the Farmhouse. Now out of sight, it won’t be long before it is also out of mind.

The Defence land went next. Local residents again tried hard to preserve the old Drill Hall on the site, but to no avail. Soldiers for the First World War were recruited there. 19 impressive town houses were built on this site, and about the same number of mature trees were liquidated. They have not been replaced. Hereford St was widened at No. 69, a benefit for the locals. The new houses were named Eternity, ironically a fitting reminder that once open space is developed, it is gone forever. Alfred Road (really just a no through laneway) was widened at the rear of No. 69 and is accessed via Upper Road, a one car width two way thoroughfare for the area. The entrance into Alfred Rd from Upper Road tests all the skill of the Sydney City garbage truck drivers each Tuesday.

Lot 1 remains. For over 30 years it has been lovingly cared for by the residents of Darrah Court, who have paid rent to Lands, maintained the space and improved it with new plants. The trees and shrubs have prospered. Birds have thrived there. A previously forgotten little patch that is now worth too much. The Lands Department, which should have more sense, wants whatever money can be made from it. What is required today is market value. A developer will pay too much for it, and then will have to squeeze every last bit of profit out of its odd shape. What is built on Lot 1 will perhaps be ugly, but will certainly be out of place. The last remaining piece of forest on Forest Lodge hill, gone for all eternity.

Mick Tapsell, long time resident of Hereford Street, Forest Lodge. May, 2006.

CAMPAIGN DIARY: May - June 2006

8 May 2006
A forestlodgetrees campaigner wrote to Bob Debus, Minister for the Environment, informing him of the community's concern re the then proposed sale of the Crown land in Forest Lodge and raising this issue in the context of his Department's City and Country Environment Restoration Program. This Program includes funding with urban sustainability grants the restoration of urban bushland and protection of urban wildlife, the improvement of local environments and the improvement of the sustainability performance of local councils. Our campaigner urged Mr Debus to contact the Minister for Lands with a view to asking whether this land could be left for the community in perpetuity.

29 May 2006
Mr Debus replied, noting that the Minister for Lands had asked for a comprehensive report on the site and advising that "Accordingly, I have written to the Minister (for Lands) asking him to ensure that this report considers the Government's urban environmental objectives outlined in the City and Country Environment Restoration Program".

7 June 2006
Sandra Nori MP, Member for Port Jackson, arranged for representatives of the forestlodgetrees community group to meet with her and Tony Kelly MLC, Minister for Lands, to discuss issues concerning the future of the Crown land at the rear of 77 Hereford Street. It is our understanding from this meeting that negotiations are ongoing between the State Government and Sydney City Council with a view to retention of the land in public ownership for public open space.

Commment Whilst this development is encouraging, the campaign to save the Crown land is not over yet. We need to continue to encourage negotiations between the State Government and the Council to find a solution that retains the land in public ownership as public open space for the benefit of the community.

14 June 2006
At the monthly meeting of the Glebe Society Management Committee, a representative of the forestlodgetrees community group provided an update on our campaign. The Committee once more affirmed its suppport for the campaign and resolved to send a letter confirming this.