Department of Planning
representatives also told the meeting that Fosters would submit a Concept Plan,
which the Department would assess—although there were no publicly available
criteria for that assessment.
This seems to be the future of
planning in NSW—public process overturned in favour of developers’ direct
access to the Minister for Planning. While the public may comment, the Minister
is not required to take concerns into account and there is no recourse for
appeal.
This week’s CUB meeting was
organised by the “Expert Advisory Panel” established by the Minister
after he took over planning control for the site on 21 June. The City was not
invited and local residents tell me that they received very late notification
or no notification at all.
The process adopted outraged local
residents, City staff and Councillors who attended this single public meeting
arranged by the State Government for the site.
Meeting participants agree that the
consultation was tokenistic, important material was only presented briefly on
screen, and the proposal presented by the Panel’s Chair, Chris Johnson of the
Department of Planning, was based on material from Fosters. However, the
important Scoping Paper was not presented to the meeting and requests to
discuss it were refused.
Fosters’ Scoping Paper proposes
260,000 square metres of floor space (a density of around 4.5:1), comprising
1800 apartments, 97,000 square metres of commercial space and 12,000 square of
retail space.
By comparison, City consultants
determined that a floor space ratio of 4:1 was at the absolute maximum end of
acceptable density, contingent on public benefits and design excellence. The
floor space proposed by Fosters for CUB is 80 per cent of the amount proposed
for East Darling Harbour,
which has a site area four times larger.
The Scoping Paper also proposes
removal of up to five buildings with heritage significance, destroying the
distinctive heritage precinct proposed by Council and the Central Sydney Planing
Committee (CSPC) to give the redevelopment real interest and character,
consistent with the social and industrial significance of the site.
Foster’s Paper also involves
retention of the 250 space car park on the site and a single parcel of park
area of 5,000 square metres maximum, including area owned by Council. Diagrams
presented to the public meeting showed no morning sun for the park, which was
an important element of the draft planning controls endorsed by Council and the
CSPC.
The diagrams presented at the
meeting also indicated Foster’s were proposing a development of greater bulk
and height than envisaged in the draft planning controls endorsed by Council
and the CSPC, indicating the Minister’s process will ignore the comprehensive
research and consultation undertaken by the City over the past two years.
I encourage you to contact the
Minister for Planning and the
Premier:
* The Scoping Paper is available at www.planning.nsw.gov.au/asp/register2006.asp#gma
* The Hon. Morris Iemma MP, Premier,
Level 40 Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000, phone 9228
5239, fax 9228 3934, email thepremier@www.nsw.gov.au
.
* The Hon. Frank Ernest Sartor MP,
Minister for Planning and Minister for Redfern Waterloo, Level 34 Governor Macquarie Tower,
1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000, phone 9228 4700, fax 9228
4711, email office@sartor.minister.nsw.gov.au