A failure of consultation
Bob Campbell Oval, where another flawed consultation process has opened the door to unwarranted development.
Last week I went for a wander down Canberra Avenue, Holdsworth Avenue, Berry Road and Park Road, past the 138 family homes that will soon be demolished to make way for up to 2000 units.
The huge St Leonards South redevelopment is being forced on this neighbourhood with scarcely a nod towards genuine community consultation. Unfortunately, it’s a scenario we’re seeing play out once again, this time with Bob Campbell Oval at the centre of the fight.
If you’re not familiar with the St Leonards South situation, allow me to provide some background. From 2015 - 2020, Lane Cove Council pushed ahead with its own St Leonards South (SLS) re-zoning plans for the area. These changes would allow development of close 2000 units in towers of up to 19 storeys in an area that was largely single-storey homes.
A visualisation of Council’s planned St Leonards South development. Credit: Lane Cove Council
Our community and that of the North Sydney local government area fought so hard to convince Lane Cove Council to review the SLS Plan. But it was clear, right until the final meeting in May 2020 when the plan was approved, that the majority of Councillors were not willing to hear the views of their community.
Hundreds of community submissions and petition signatures opposed to the development were ignored. From 2012 to 2014 Councillors met with the property owners who stood to benefit from the redevelopment while the community at large was excluded. Even the Independent Planning Commission’s advice was ignored when it found that the SLS Plan complied with only 5 of 23 Departmental design principles for development in the St Leonards Crows Nest area.
Fast forward to 2021 and it seems history is repeating, this time with Bob Campbell Oval in Greenwich. This precious open green space, which has been a community treasure enjoyed by all for many decades, is now in the Council’s sights for redevelopment.
Council’s plan to rip up the natural turf playing surface and replace it with synthetic will drastically limit the broader community’s ability to enjoy the oval, to the benefit of a single stakeholder group – soccer teams.
The parallels with SLS are there to see. Council has once again put commercial stakeholders ahead of residents. Over 1600 petition signatures and hundreds of residents’ submissions have been ignored. Expert advice, this time from turf experts and environmental consultants, has been arrogantly dismissed.
The SLS and BCO experiences have totally eroded the community’s faith in Council’s respect for the community voice.
It is now clear that new Councillors must drive Council to change the way it consults with community:
a shift from a consultative to a collaborative approach
inclusion of community early on in the development of a proposal
face to face engagement with Councillors and Council officers
detailed, considered, respectful and timely responses to submissions.
If elected, my priority as a Councillor (after voting to cancel the BCO Master Plan), will be to move a motion that Council undertakes, with its community, a full and urgent review of its community engagement strategies.
