And he’s
hoping his fellow Australians will get behind him.
The Sydney man is appealing
to the community to help fund his $40,000 legal battle against beer company
Fosters, which owns the Carlton United Brewery (CUB) site in Chippendale, and
the state Minister for Planning Frank Sartor.
He already
has the support of Sydney
Town Hall, with Deputy
Lord Mayor Chris Harris sending
letters to local residents urging them to donate money towards Mr
Drake-Brockman’s cause. Lord Mayor Clover Moore
also said she supported the legal action.
Mr
Drake-Brockman would be appealing to “everyone across the state and country,
not just residents in this area” for donations, he said.
“This issue
is not just at the local level, it should involve anyone who has concern with
the environmentally wasteful culture of development in Australia.”
The current
plan for the CUB site would “significantly increase climate change pollution”
due to the extra cars it would put on the road and the amount of energy it
would use, Mr Drake-Brockman said.
He hoped
the Land and Environment Court
would force Fosters and Mr Sartor to make the development greener by using
solar power, recycling water and sewerage, and restricting the number of car
spaces available.
Fosters,
however, is arguing the development – which is located the edge of the CBD and
includes residential housing and office towers – is as green as they could make
it and meets the environmental standards legally required by NSW law.
“We have
done what we believe is a very environmentally friendly design, and we’ve done
it with the best advice we can find,” Fosters spokesperson Troy Hey said.
Some of the
sustainable features in the concept plan include the collection of rain and
stormwater for use in irrigation and toilet flushing, plus glazed and shaded
windows to reduce the need for air-conditioning.
But
according to Mr Drake-Brockman this wasn’t good enough. He said the 5.8 hectare
site was “one of Australia’s
largest urban developments and provides the State Government with a great
opportunity to show true leadership by addressing the issue of climate change
in allowing only for an environmentally sustainable development”.