Councillor Chris Harris

With only fourteen days to go until local resident Matthew Drake Brockman takes on the mammoth beer mogul Foster’s and Planning Minister Frank Sartor, the Chippendale community along with other Sydney residents and supporters came together to help raise funds for the cause.

At UTS on Wednesday July 11, almost 100 residents braved appalling weather to eat, drink and be inspired.

Speakers such as Cate Faehrmann, Executive Director, Nature Conservation Council of NSW, accused the Government of being more about party politics than achieving any progress in addressing climate change and that Part 3A planning laws were dangerous and undemocratic for allowing one man to hold so much power.

Green Bans legend Jack Mundey, surprised everyone with his revelation that when it came to climate change, communities would have more success lobbying business rather than government – except of course at election time.

Caroline Pidcock, President of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, agreed adding that many developers were more aware of sustainability issues than government ministers.

Michael Mobbs then informed the audience that sustainability measures only add between two and eight percent to upfront development costs. This of course would be recouped over time through lower living costs. The audience was ready with applause and questions as to why our governments just don’t get it.

The evening was a great success with the small community of Chippendale raising over $1,000 for the court case.

The CUB court case is scheduled for July 25th and 26th. It will be a David and Goliath tussle at which anyone who is interested can attend.

The City of Sydney last week agreed to support the community’s fund raising effort for the litigation against Foster’s and Planning Minister Frank Sartor over the CUB site in Chippendale.

Cr Chris Harris, who is actively supporting the case, had requested that a $20,000 grant be made to FOCUS - a Chippendale community group - to help meet the $40,000 estimated costs.

After debate, the majority of councillors decided that council match the Legal Aid grant together with funds raised by the community up to a limit of $20,000, subject to some legal provisos.

The vote was 7-3 with only the three Labor councillors (including Assistant Environment Minister Verity Firth) opposing. (See resolution passed, below)

“This is great news for Chippendale,” said Cr Harris.

“The litigation is a last-ditch attempt to have the community and the environment considered in a long-term project that will triple the population and car ownership in this charming inner Sydney suburb.”

“It is a real message to Frank Sartor that his takeover of the site using the unpopular part 3A planning laws is anti-democratic and that the concept plan that he approved is unsustainable.”

Outstanding Legal Counsel

Strong Legal Counsel for the community has been confirmed. Francis Douglas QC is one of Australia’s leading barristers. Junior counsel Jason Lazarus is a rising star in the legal profession and an expert in Land & Environment Court matters.

Cr Harris has written to Frasers, the developers who recently purchased the site from Foster’s, requesting a meeting to discuss what the developer needs to do to create an environmentally sustainable development.

Fundraising event

Supporters of the case can help kick it along at a fundraising event to be held on 11 July at the Guthrie Theatre, UTS (6.30-8.30pm, Lebanese finger food, drinks available for purchase, $30 contribution, enter off Harris Street).

Speakers will include Ian Kiernan AO from Clean Up Australia, Green bans legend Jack Mundey, Chippendale resident and sustainability expert Michael Mobbs, Cate Faehrmann, Executive Officer of the Nature Conservation Council and Caroline Pidcock, past president of the Australian Institute of Architects.

Around $5,000 in public donations has already been received and further pledges indicate that the fund raising drive will reach its target before the case on 25 July.

Recycle your dead mobile phone and help raise some money for the CUB case

Local reside Amy Kelly will collect all previously loved mobile phones at the fundraiser event and recycle them. Each phone will raise $5 towards the case.

Contact Amy Kelly on  0405 978 756.

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Politicians of all shades these days pay at least lip-service to climate change. But which ones are serious when it comes to real action?

Chris Harris at Monday night’s Council meeting will present Councillors with an opportunity to get behind the community legal action challenging the concept plan for the CUB site in Chippendale.

He is asking Council to contribute $20,000 towards the estimated legal costs, backing up community members who have already donated $3,000 to the cause.

‘I imagine the Labor councillors will have to think hard about supporting action against Planning Minister Frank Sartor, but I can see no good reason why the remaining councillors should not get behind this last-ditch attempt to save the future of Sydney,’ said Cr Harris.

‘The CUB site is the largest remaining old industrial site to be developed in the CBD and given that we will have to live with its environmental consequences for decades, we have to act now or never.’

‘I support Clover Moore’s vision for Sydney. I agree with her that Sydney should be liveable, equitable and environmentally sustainable and that this depends on what we do now.’ (SMH 6/6/07)

‘If we believe this then we need to change the nature of this disastrous project which will snarl traffic and impact heavily on the environment for decades to come. The other environmental measures council is planning will be cancelled out unless we act now.

Cr Harris has fully backed the community action by letterboxing Chippendale with an appeal for loan/donations. The litigation is also being supported by Legal Aid which has indemnified the litigants against costs should they lose the case.

‘This means there is no risk to Council or anyone else who backs the action,’ says Cr Harris. ‘The choice is simple: get behind this action or face a long future of pollution and traffic chaos in Sydney.’

‘I invite residents to come to Town Hall on Monday evening to watch the debate.’

Attachments: Media Release; Flyer Page 1; Flyer Page 2.

A few people have made comments lately that show the concept of ’sustainability’ means quite different things to different people.

Here we are making an issue of the CUB site and the Surry Hills Community Centre, which clearly do not meet the sustainability standards needed to reverse global warming, and more than one person has responded with comments like: ‘But what’s wrong with being on mains water?’

Well, nothing is wrong with it, especially as most of us have little choice and little incentive to do otherwise. Some climate-change sceptics even take sustainability messages as a personal affront.

That’s not what we are saying, though.

The point is that the ways of the past, the ways we have grown up with and take for granted, cannot last. Even ultra-sceptics like George Bush and John Howard are finally admitting that climate change induced by human activity is a real problem.

That’s partly because so many major players in business and economics have now accepted that the longer we take to tackle the problem the worse the economic damage we will most likely have to endure. Even the risk of it demands action.

So when developers propose major projects that incorporate only minor or marginal green initiatives, and these projects have, say, a 30-year life span, it’s simply stealing from our own future and that of our children — and their children.

Don’t forget that every tonne of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere will stay there for hundreds of years. There is no magic vacuum-cleaner to take it all away.

Every minute, every week and every month counts. It’s urgent!

So the only responsible way forward is to drastically reduce emissions, now. We need to realise that every take-away coffee cup, every glass of mains water that has been pumped from a distant dam and every old computer monitor we throw out embodies energy that has produced emissions. But compared to a take-away coffee cup, major developments like the CUB site will be cataclysmic in their impacts.

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The court case to save Chippendale from an extra 2,300 polluting cars, the unsustainable use of water, the disposal of sewage to the ocean and the massive long term construction impacts of the proposed CUB development is set for 25 July. The Environmental Defender’s Office, the community’s legal advisors for the case, estimates that a further $30,000 will be needed on top of the Legal Aid already granted.

That’s why I am working with members of the local community to launch a public fundraising appeal.

The concept plan approved for the site pays only lip-service to the environment while Frank Sartor’s autocratic planning powers ensure that community concerns will also be sacrificed on the altar of developer profits.

This court case is our last chance to force the big end of town to re-think and re-design this massive new development into something Sydney and future generations can be proud of.

Anyone who travels along Broadway, Abercrombie Street or Regent Street which bound the huge site knows how bad the delays already are. Imagine three more sets of traffic lights and 2,300 more vehicles moving in and out of the site – because that’s how many parking spots are planned for the development! Read the rest of this entry »