Councillor Chris Harris

Forest Lodge residents are furious at the refusal of the Lord Mayor of Sydney to provide the wildlife habitat that was promised to them for over a decade. The bushland reserve is located along Hereford Street near Wood Street at Forest Lodge. It will pass into public ownership following the completion of the development of the Children’s Hospital site at Camperdown. The project had its origins with Leichhardt Council over 10 years ago and throughout this entire period the local residents have wanted part of the land to be a thriving and healthy habitat for native plants, birds & animals

The pleas of local residents have been ignored by the City of Sydney Council and the Lord Mayor who is supportive of running a “v” shaped switchback pathway right thorough the middle of what is supposed to be a habitat area. This will totally degrade the habitat values of the crescent moon shaped piece of land because what is already a modest sized habitat area will be divided into three or four even smaller sections by concrete - its integrity will be destroyed.

The switchback pathway will be about 130 metres long with a one in twenty slope - it will be irresistible to young people who will have great fun skating and cycling on the sloping path with a 180 degree turn at the end of the first section. And that’s not a criticism of young skaters & cyclists – if I was 40 years younger I’d be down there with my mates in a flash! No doubt, every kid in Glebe will know about this path before long.

The City staff made very significant changes to the original design that was shown to the community by including the highly intrusive path – these changes should have been exhibited to the community for comment – they never were. In addition the resolution of council in November 2008, which required staff to consult with interested councillors, was ignored and a construction certificate was signed off in February in the face of requests by myself and other councillors for more information about the progress of the redesign of the site.

It is clear to me now that the Lord Mayor knew what was proposed and was concealing it from councillors and community members who wanted the habitat kept intact. It is clear that the Lord Mayor simply wanted a piece of bushland that people could walk through. The Lord Mayor obviously does not support the habitat concept that the community thought they were getting. The Lord Mayor has created something on the Wood Street site that the residents never envisaged.

Irene and myself representing the Greens, and Labor councillor Meredith Burgmann, were the only councillors to join local residents (about 80 people attended) at a meeting on the site on Friday 13th March where residents demanded that the City cease work on the habitat and redesign that section of the project. Liberal councillor Shayne Mallard was interstate and personally visited the site over the weekend. I emailed all councillors the day before to let them know about the meeting.

What the community wants is not complicated - just remove the pathway and leave the area to the native animals and birds – then a genuine habitat area can be created and nurtured.

There is plenty of other good access to the large bushland site that humans can use – there is a small playground for local children and grassed areas that visitors can use to play, relax & enjoy.

Residents also turned up in force (approximately 50 people) at the Council meeting on Monday night, March 18th . Greens & Labor councillors presented petitions to Council from 370 supporters who wanted the habitat concept restored. Then five speakers very eloquently argued the case to eliminate the path but were overruled by the Lord Mayor who stubbornly refused to acknowledge that the large areas of concrete will destroy the fragile habitat the local residents are so passionate about establishing on the site.

I really felt for some of the residents who I know have been providing expert input on plantings, wildlife and design to Leichhardt Council for a decade and more recently to the City of Sydney council. Some of those residents must feel totally betrayed and disillusioned by the actions of the Lord Mayor and those councillors who supported her.

For the record:

Voting for removal of the path – Crs Harris & Doutney (Greens), Cr Burgmann (Labor), Cr Mallard (Liberal), Cr Hoff (Independent)

Voting for the pathway & habitat destruction: Crs Moore, McInerney, Black, Tornai, Kok (Clover Moore Party) – Cr Moore then voted a second time with her casting vote to defeat the community’s plan.

Some of the local residents of Forest Lodge have more expertise in this area than staff at the City, and certainly more than the councillors, and I think that the “Clover knows best” attitude displayed on Monday night will deliver a piece of public open space that will not achieve what has been long desired by people who live on both sides of Orphan School Creek.

One resident who has great expertise in natural habitat restoration wrote to the Lord Mayor before the meeting and copied me to the correspondence. She wrote:

Clover

As a long term resident of the locality I am aware that the bushland plan for restoring Orphan School Creek was conceived 10 years ago. I have been very happy with the implementation of the Orphan School Creek restoration project to date with high importance given to habitat values. The vegetation on the City Quarter side of the gully is becoming functional habitat and I have been looking forward to the same success on the Wood St side.

I am disappointed that Council has come close to fatally compromising the bushland and habitat concept by failing, to date, to fully implement the community vision. Loss of possible habitat in favour of broad grassy areas and intrusive pathways would severely reduce the effectiveness of  the south side restoration work. The gully must be treated as a cohesive whole.

I am involved professionally in the field of natural area restoration, as well as being a community volunteer in local restoration projects. The whole of Orphan School Creek gully has significance to the inner west region because it is an integral part of the Johnston Creek green corridor identified by Leichhardt Council. Together with revegetation linkages along Johnston Creek and the connecting light rail corridor, it has the potential to be an inner west core habitat area.

I urge City of Sydney to adhere to the original concept for the gully, which will deliver a best practice example of inner urban restoration and will be appreciated by many residents long after the tortuous implementation phase fades in our collective memory. This concept relies on minimizing access to the core habitat area to be created. Accordingly I strongly urge that the proposed zigzag pathway be removed from the project.

I am happy to give my time to be part of a reference group to help resolve outstanding issues with the project, provide continuing community engagement and to ensure the project’s ultimate success.

Clearly this expert advice was dismissed out of hand by the Lord Mayor.

In my view the City has blotted its copybook on the Orphan School Creek / Wood St land project.

The Greens will continue to support the community in any further initiatives they might take to ensure that this habitat area is delivered by the City of Sydney.

Photos: Local residents occupy the site on Monday 16th March

Councillor Harris addresses a meeting of residents on the site on Friday March 13th

Below is a link to the story as it appeared in The City News on March 19

City News Story