25 February 2011
Mr
Michael Shreenan
Convenor
of Redwatch
c/- PO
Box 1567
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
Dear
Mr Shreenan,
I refer to the Redwatch letter dated
15 February 2011, expressing concern with the public consultation occurring on the Built
Environment Plan Stage 2 (BEP 2), I acknowledge that the Redwatch letter does not necessarily reflect your personal
views on this matter and I have considered this in my response as outlined
below.
While the ‘intended spirit in which the requests (and
comments) are mode” is acknowledged, both the specific comments made in the Redwatch letter,
and its central suggestion that inadequate consultation has and is occurring
regarding BEP 2 are not agreed.
The
Redfern Waterloo Authority, in close consultation with Housing NSW, has
undertaken significant
effort in seeking to engage with the community and other key stakeholders on
this key project. As you
are aware, the RWA has determined that this consultation is a non-statutory process thereby affording the community further
opportunities to consider this matter at a later date. As you are also aware, this issue of affording the
community this opportunity of a non-statutory
consultation period has been a key request of Redwatch and we have responded to
that request accordingly.
Any suggestion that “misdirection techniques’
are being used at street corner
discussions is firmly rejected. Questions
regarding the type of facilities residents may desire is a perfectly valid
request for information that will help
in the development of the BEP 2 project. Further, full information regarding BEP 2 is provided at the street corner
sessions, which have been extensively and widely notified as being for the purpose of discussing the Plan. There has been
no intent to avoid legitimate
consultation either by RWA or Housing NSW.
As
Redwatch is also aware, Housing NSW has spent
much of the last 18
months conducting activities that
have been aimed to build understanding and knowledge of planning and urban design issues, so that social housing residents will be
better able to comment on BEP 2. This has included:
- A series of site visits and workshops on Urban Design with bus trips out to new residential
developments (including
Bonnyrigg, Mlinto, Pyrmont, Victoria Park), so residents could see how planning controls and urban
design principles operate in practice. Bi Lingual Community Educators (BCE) were
available for these sessions. Bruce Judd (UNSW) has been a primary person in
this series; - A series of Community Forums featuring visiting experts in urban design
or regeneration (Bliss
Browne, Judy Cowans, Jim Diers, George Housakos) so the community could hear - First hand what’s happening across the World and what the issues and
trends are. Reports on
proceedings were provided on each of these Forums to our stakeholder list; - Sponsoring tenants to attend
Shelter’s ‘Estates in the Balance’ Conference to learn more about renewal; - A number of ‘Meet the Designer’
sessions so the community could begin a conversation with some of the people contributing urban design ideas for Redfern and
Waterloo, coordinated by Chris Johnstone; and - A
Community Learning and Research Forum (facilitated by Judy Stubbs) which
identified a process and some
key issues that the community believes are important to understand in planning for renewal in Redfern and Waterloo. A further
Forum is scheduled for mid February.
In terms of the
consultation following the release of draft REP 2, the following components of
the consultation
strategy have included:
- Advertisements in key
newspapers (the Sydney Morning Herald & the Sydney Central Courier); - Housing
NSW residents being provided with a Resident Information booklet, with
interpreter service details
and facts on BEP 2 — over 4000 people; - The
Plan being available on RWA’s website, with electronic copies also being
available on request; - Fact
sheets, and frequently asked questions (FAQs), together with supporting studies
being placed on the website; - Updated FAQs in response to questions and queries received from the consultative processes
being placed on the website; - A
dedicated phone line with a professional town planner ready to answer queries
being set up; - A Feedback forms to make
providing a submission easier; - A Newsletter summary
being delivered to every household and business in the RWA Operational
Area (approximately 20,000 recipients); - RWA
holding 7 information sessions at Redfern Town Hall, including Saturdays and evenings during the exhibition period. These sessions
included hard copies of the Plan, large
information panels and experts in planning and HNSW representatives being available to discuss the Plan and answer any questions,
In addition bi-lingual community educators
(Russian, Cantonese and Mandarin interpreters) have also attended all sessions; - The
RWA’s architect and traffic advisors have attended the Saturday sessions; - The
RWA printed and distributed 4500 additional feedback forms to the social
housing sites following the request for access to
hard copies of the feedback forms for social housing tenants from the Redwatch meeting held on 3 February 2011. This involved
a feedback form, covering letter
with advice in Russian, Cantonese and Mandarin on how to have your say
and a fact sheet to provide an overview of what the BEP 2 is about; - The
use of an independent specialist consultation firm to collate all feedback, and
manage the information sessions; - Specific
briefings to key stakeholders groups, including Redwatch, to explain the detail
on the BEP 2 project and to answer any queries in this
regard; - HNSW holding
information sessions daily at Redfern and Waterloo, including:
- 15 sessions
- 4 sessions specifically for the Aboriginal community
held at The Block, outside the Purple Goanna,
NCIE and at Wyanga facilitated by the Aboriginal Housing Specialist from HNSW- 11 held on street corners and 4 drop in sessions in the
Social Housing Community Rooms- Another 11 sessions are planned for the week ending 25
February 2011
- These HNSW information sessions include Russian, Cantonese and Mandarin
interpreters.
Through the street corner sessions, over 500 social
housing residents have been consulted to date which represents over 10% of public housing tenancies,
while around 100 people have attended the information sessions at Redfern Town Hall. Over 300
feedback forms have
been received by the RWA. The feedback forms and submissions received
will be analysed and reported upon by Mediate Today — the independent
consultancy firm contracted by the RWA to assist in the consultation process.
Whilst we are awaiting all submissions and feedback
forms, the response from the Public Information
sessions thus far has largely indicated that this process is very effective.
Comments have included,
via email, that an attendee ‘had learnt more about planning in 2 hours
from the information
session than she had in two years”.
In light of all of the above, the assertion that the
consultation process is inadequate and/or flawed is clearly not agreed. I am of the view that the
commitment to gathering and understanding community views displayed by both the RWA and Housing
NSW has been of a high standard and that
the implementation of the consultation
process has been done in a professional manner,
Although the consultation process is ongoing, the
feedback to date has been very constructive, which augers well for the development of this project and
the further
work that will be
undertaken accordingly. It
is also worth noting that the HNSW will be
undertaking further detailed consultation as part of their master-planning
process which will follow
the finalisation of
BEP 2.
In closing I wish
to reiterate the position of the RWA on consultation that I have advised
Redwatch and other organisations since my appointment as the
Chief Executive Officer
of the RWA, which is we seek to engage with
the community on our specific proposals, and whilst we acknowledge that we will not always agree, respectful dialogue on
these matters is central to our approach.
We remain
committed to this approach accordingly.
I trust this assists you with this
matter.
Yours sincerely,
Roy Wakelin-King AM
Chief Executive
Officer
REDWatch Note – This letter was in reply to REDWatch Concerns Regarding BEP2 Consultation