Campaign Update November 2007

Representatives of the forestlodgetrees community group attended the Sydney City Council North West Community Forum on 5 November and put their concerns about the impasse in negotiations about the land at 9 Alfred Road to both the Lord Mayor’s representative and to Councillor Robyn Kemmis.

The concerns are that, although both the Council and State Government agree in principle that the land could be acquired by Council for public open space, Council appears to be unwilling to pay to acquire land that is already publicly owned and the State Government appears to be unwilling to transfer the land to Council free of charge. As a result, the land remains at risk of sale for residential development with the inevitable loss of the grove of mature eucalypts standing on the land.

The Lord Mayor has urged the forestlodgetrees community group on a number of occasions to pursue the matter with the State Government. The group is doing this, however the point was made to both the Lord Mayor’s representative and to Councillor Kemmis that the group’s efforts would be more effective if, at the same time, Council actively pursued negotiations with the State Government consistent with the Local Action Plan – North West, adopted by Council in February 2007, which states at item no. 23:

“Council will continue to negotiate with the State Government to preserve public ownership of the Crown Land at 9 Alfred Road, Forest Lodge.”

Both the Lord Mayor’s representative and Councillor Kemmis indicated that they would investigate the current state of the negotiations.