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/
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/
posted by from Hereford Street at
7:44 AM
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