Carlton & United Breweries Site Heritage Under Threat from Minister:

"The NSW Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, is drunk with power and should come clean and reveal what his actual plans are for the Carlton & United Breweries site on Broadway are " Mr Andrew Woodhouse said today commenting on a decision rammed through by his representatives on the CSPC last night at an extra-ordinary meeting called by its Chair, Clover Moore MP, Lord Mayor.

"By a slim majority of 4-3 the Central Sydney Planning Committee voted, despite Clover Moore, MP, Lord Mayor and Clrs McInerney and Mallard voting against the motion, to refer this major $500m development project back to Frank Sartor as Minister for planning.

He now has sole repsosnsibility for it.

"In the process, Frank Sartor receives  a bonus cheque for millions of dollars in developer contributions  to add to depleted state coffers.

The main motive is money  Mr Woodhouse

The meeting was called after committee members received a letter described by Clr Mallard as "offensive" from the Minister.

The letter states:

"I am writing to express my concern ...with regard to ... delays [over the (CUB) site."

" I require further latitude in the FSR controls. Limited increases could be incorporated on the site ...through a ...competition process.

" I am now requesting that you clarify your position ...within 14 days of the date of this letter."

 [Source: Attachment A CSPC 7 June 2006 background notes, pp6-7 letter ref: Y06/1496 from Frank Sartor MP]

The letter, oddly enough is undated.

"Good planning policy requires three things: certainty, fairness and finality.

"And these are being ignored by Frank Sartor as the project now does back to stage one.

"Years of community input are being treated with complete contempt.

"Heritage controls will be ignored" Mr Woodhouse said.

"This heritage-listed site is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register twice and has significance as the only former remaining inner city brewery, with remnants dating from 1835.

"The site has:

"aesthetic significance .. [and] significant town and streetscape value".

In addition, the administration building, dating from 1910, also on the NSW State Heritage Register is noted for:

"its intact boardroom interiors including the "Show bar".

[for full heritage register extracts see www.nswheritage.gov.au search register under  Broadway]

"This early industrial site, a thumbprint of our past, has been languishing in limbo since before 2003" Mr Woodhouse said.

"Lucy Turnbull, former Lord Mayor said in 2003 that then "current height proposals will make Soviet Moscow look friendly" [see below for source of quote].

If Frank Sartor has his way she might turn out to be right Mr Woodhouse said

"At the time she urged residents to provide their comments to council planners "to ensure we achieve the best possible outcome for ALL parties" [our emphasis]- see her December 2003 update below.

"That turned out to be a pious hope . The CSPC is a token democratic group made up of Sartor's government appointees and a few City Councillors" Mr Woodhouse said.

None of the government appointees are elected by any constituent, they don't live in the area and don't represent or reflect the community or its views Mr Woodhouse said in response to a statement by a Mr Bird, an appointee on the committee that he represented the "wider" community.

"The CSPC government reps have become a matrix of marionettes" Mr Woodhouse said.

"Now that Frank Sartor, the Minister For Everything-Else, has swallowed the once-independent NSW Heritage Office into his planning department, the community can have no confidence in the NSW Heritage Office's recommendations.

"Their recommendations have time and time again have been rightly knocked back by the NSW Land & Environment Court eg., The Abbey, Glebe site, St Johns Anglican Church Darlinghurst site and Ashton, Elizabeth Bay Road site.

"The Heritage Office has lost touch with community expectations and has lost its credibility: it has become another rubber-stamping, government approval arm and has been sucked into the vortex of Frank's fiefdom" Andrew Woodhouse said.

"We expect the NSW Heritage Office to sanction almost anything Frank wants for the Carlton & United Breweries site to satiate the developers' unending appetite to suck more money out of their investment.

"It's time", as the Labor Party has a tradition of saying, for the public to know how much Frank Sartor has propitiated  the developers Mr Woodhouse said in conclusion.

Phone Andrew Woodhouse 0415 949 506 for further information

Lord Mayoral CUB Update 1 - December 2003 from Lucy Turnbull

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Development/UrbanRenewalProjects/CarltonUnitedBrewery/CUBUpdate1.asp

"Thank you to the residents of Chippendale who took the time and interest to attend the briefing I recently organised on the preliminary planning study for the Kent Brewery site. As requested, the presentation by Philip Thalis, commissioned by the City of Sydney, is available on this website for you to review.

The significance of the Kent Brewery site and its importance to the future of Chippendale means that local community input will be a vital component of the planning and approval process. The City of Sydney goes further than any other consent authority in Australia in ensuring development controls and architectural designs for major or significant sites are first class. Philip Thalis' work is the first stage in this process - a process we want to ensure we get right.

As I said at our meeting, the current height controls will make Soviet Moscow look friendly! If you go to the links to drawings 29 & 31 you will see what I mean. Hill Thalis have fine tuned the height limits to ensure that more appropriate and diverse building types are introduced in appropriate locations (drawings 30 and 32). Maximum height planes will also be introduced on the site to ensure that overshadowing is minimised.

Please take the time to review Philip's presentation on this website and provide us with your feedback by 1 December 2003. Your thoughts on traffic control, open space, community uses and building heights will be forwarded to our planners to ensure that we achieve the best possible outcome for all parties.

Lucy Turnbull
Lord Mayor