05 December 2005

In this Update:

Who in Redfern-Waterloo Will Go Global with The Metro Strategy?

RWA Post Development Application Procedures for State Significant Areas (14 days notice for a demonstration)

Michael Mundine and Frank Sartor Talk

Elizabeth Street DoH Development & the PCYC

Redfern Oval

REDWatch Discussion Forum

CUB Site and the $24 Million RWA Developer Levy

Coming Events Now on the REDWatch Website

Who in Redfern-Waterloo Will Go Global with The Metro Strategy?

"City of Cities - A Plan for Sydney's Future" is the main component of the Metropolitan Strategy, the NSW Government's 25 year plan for Sydney. It was released on 4^th December 2005 and there has been much media coverage to day about it and what it proposes for shaping Sydney towards 2031.

The word Redfern occurs six times in the full document (four with Waterloo and twice when referring to the Railway Station). These references are not the sum total of what refers to Redfern Waterloo. There are a few other terms that you will need to know to work out how the strategy might relate to the future of Redfern Waterloo.

Redfern Waterloo is classed as part of “Global Sydney”. “Global Sydney” is made up of North Sydney, the Sydney CBD and a number of inner city precincts. So when the Strategy says that dwellings in Sydney will increase from 76,833 in 2001 to 132,000 in 2031 and employment will increase from 331,572 in 2001 to 380,000 in 2031 some of that is coming to Redfern Waterloo.

Redfern Waterloo is one of the “city knowledge precincts”. The metro Strategy states these “include the Redfern–Waterloo area and incorporate the Australian Technology Park, Sydney University, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, University of Technology Sydney and Sydney Institute of Technology” as “major activity precincts for education, research and technology based jobs.” [Page 296]

“Global Sydney” is at the centre of the “Global Economic Corridor” or Sydney’s “Global Arc”. This corridor refers to “the concentration of linked jobs and gateway infrastructure from Macquarie Park through Chatswood, St Leonards, North Sydney and the CBD to Sydney Airport and Port Botany” [Page 33]

Green Square is one of three planned Major Centres Locations for shopping and services in identified residential growth areas. The number of people employed there is planned to go from 5,827 in 2001 to 14,000 in 2013. [Page 95]

So when the Metro Strategy talks about “Global Sydney”, “city knowledge precincts”, “Global Economic Corridor” and “Global Arc” it might also be talking about Redfern Waterloo!

The specific mentions of Redfern Waterloo were:

• In Sydney City and the global economic corridor, there are documented capacity constraints. The Government will ensure there are sufficient strategic sites available and infrastructure capacity to support the growth of these commercial office markets, particularly in North Sydney, Sydney City, East Darling Harbour, City South, Redfern and at rail stations in the City to Airport Corridor.[Page 103]
• The Government will expect agencies proposing renewal to assess the affordability of housing in an area proposed for renewal and adjoining areas. These agencies may be the local government that is proposing rezoning to higher densities, the Department of Housing, the Department of Planning in strategic centres, Landcom or other agencies such as the Redfern Waterloo Authority and the Sydney Olympic Park Authority.[Page 146]
• As part of the Redfern Waterloo Authority’s work, Redfern station will be investigated for upgrading to provide better services for this redeveloping area.[Page 177]
• The CBD–Airport corridor already has a very high level of transport activity within it, with major flows of people and goods to and from the CBD, the Airport and Port Botany, all of which are expected to continue to grow significantly. Major growth in dwellings and employment in Redfern-Waterloo, Green Square and Mascot will add a further challenge to the transport task. A key challenge will be managing the impacts of transport investment needed to enhance the corridor’s economic efficiency on the communities within it. There has been much investment in road and rail systems serving north–south movements. As the corridor grows and changes, transport constraints increasingly will occur in systems serving east-west trips. Major transport works underway include bus priority measures in the CBD; Rail Clearways; arterial road improvements; and negotiations with Sydney Airport Corporation regarding transport to support its proposed expansion of the Airport.[Page 197]
• The city knowledge precincts which include the Redfern–Waterloo area and incorporate the Australian Technology Park, Sydney University, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, University of Technology Sydney and Sydney Institute of Technology, are major activity precincts for education, research and technology based jobs.[Page 296]

We have taken some extracts from the Metro Strategy documents that relate to some of the issues that will be of concern to Redfern Waterloo and made these available on the REDWatch here.

The "City of Cities - A Plan for Sydney's Future" confirms that major changes are coming to Redfern Waterloo. How an area with high public housing and social disadvantage fits into a global Sydney with its high tech, high land value, white colour focus remains the big challenge facing the Redfern Waterloo community, the RWA and the NSW Government.

The "City of Cities - A Plan for Sydney's Future" can be read on the web, downloaded in sections, requested on CD or is also in printed form. We have assembled all the current links to the various documents on the REDWatch website here or you can go directly to http://www.metrostrategy.nsw.gov.au and find material from there.

RWA Post Development Application Procedures for State Significant Areas (14 days notice for a demonstration)

The RWA Has now posted material on their website regarding Consent Authority Delegations to the RWA and Development Application procedures for the state significant areas under its control. The RWA now has its own Development Application (PDF 62Kb) form.

There is also a new page covering requirements for exempt developments which are low impact or minor development such as public gatherings. This can be found here. The RWA has issued RWA Guidelines for Temporary Outdoor Community Events Criteria for Exempt Development (23 Kb PDF) as well as an application form for Exempt Development Form (31KB PDF)

Under the procedures it would appear that to hold a demonstration outside the RWA offices or on the Block to protest about an RWA decision that technically you will be required to give 14 days notice. This may work well if the Minister and the RWA can give the community 21 days notice of any announcements or decisions that are likely to get the community upset enough to want to have a public gathering near the RWA offices.

Michael Mundine and Frank Sartor Talk

While we understand Frank Sartor’s office is not saying anything, people walking into the AHC office over the last couple of weeks have been told by Michael Mundine that he and the Minister met for one and a half hours without advisers to try and open discussions about the future of the Block. What was said and what might be denied is not possible to independently verify.

We understand from the AHC that the Minister has agreed to consider the DA which the AHC has almost completed although this does not mean the Minister has changed his position. The AHC wants the Minister to assess the application on its merits as would be the case with all other DAs submitted to him.

Apparently in the discussion the Minister raised the old questions about the AHC’s governance but as the Government is not providing any funding to the AHC it was pointed out that the issue was only relevant if the RWA was going to consider the governance of all potential private developers in Redfern Waterloo.

It would appear that the AHC also advised the Minister that they were of the view that he should not include anything in the Draft Redfern Waterloo Plan about the Block until he meets the requirement of the act to consult with the AHC and the Aboriginal community prior to producing the Plan.

We await the Draft Plan and the AHC Development Application with great interest. 

Elizabeth Street DoH Development & the PCYC

With all the attention on the PCYC and Redfern Oval we thought it would be useful to put the details of the Elizabeth Street Development up on the REDWatch Website. We have posted the text of the letters sent from DoH to Elizabeth Street tenants in 2003 and in May 2005 as well as the information and Q&A sheets concerning the development. For the record Elizabeth Street tenants were advised in May 2005 that the PCYC would be included in newly advertisements for Expressions of Interest in doing the development and that the Master Plan would be changed if Council required it. These documents can be viewed here.  

Redfern Oval

Scarcely a day goes by without a new twist for the Rabbitoh’s or the PCYC / Rabbitoh’s campaign for Council to change its mind and allow NRL games on Redfern Oval. The PCYC are hosting a new “Save Redfern Oval” website at http://www.saveredfernoval.com/index2.php which will take some of the material from the Official Souths website at http://www.souths.com.au/home/index.asp. For those looking for an alternative Souths supporters view you might also like to visit the Rabbitoh Warren at http://www.rabbitohs.com/ . We have also put up a few of the recent articles on the REDWatch Media section at http://www.redwatch.org.au/inthemediatopic .

Local MP Kristina Keneally has responded to our comments in the RWIU of 21.11.2005 regarding the PCYC, the Oval and comparisons between council and RWA consultations. We appreciate Kristina’s comments and rather than attach them to an already long email we have put her comments on the REDWatch website for you to read here.

REDWatch Discussion Forum

As we do not have a letters section in RWIU we figure the best way of encouraging people to comment or disagree with us is to encourage people to post their comments on the REDWatch Discussion Forum at http://www.redwatch.org.au/discussion-forum . Here you and we can also comment on other people’s comments! You can start a new discussion about a Redfern Waterloo Issue as well as add to an existing discussion. The Forum will be checked regularly by a Moderator for relevance to Redfern Waterloo issues and for inappropriate / offensive postings.

Ian Thomson from Save Redfern Park has contributed some comments on the Rabbitohs December 4^th Rally at Redfern Oval which is bound to get some response if for no other reason than his crowd estimate of 250 against the press reports of 1000. When we asked Trevor Davies, who attended, to estimate the crowd he said that about 500 people attended and that there were 30 speakers. Everyone seems to agree it was a low turn out and hopefully the discussion in the forum will concentrate on items of substance. 

CUB Site and the $24 Million RWA Developer Levy

On December 2^nd the SMH ran the story “Brewery site limits watered down”. According to the article Lord Mayor Clover Moore said that the State Government had forced up densities by applying a developer levy to the site that will go towards affordable housing in Redfern and Waterloo. The levy is understood to be about 3 per cent of the project value, or about $24 million. "We have had added pressure put on us by the [Redfern-Waterloo Authority] levy the owners have to pay, these costs are passed on and pressure is put on us," Cr Moore said. The full article can be viewed here. It is also on the REDWatch website.

We note that the officers report to council makes the following comment regarding the RWA:

43. Under S. 30A(1)(1) and S. 32(2)of the Redfern-Waterloo Authority Act 2005 the Minister for the Redfern Waterloo Authority may prepare a contributions plan (or enter a planning agreement) for affordable housing contribution in the operational area of the Redfern Waterloo Authority. At the time of writing this report neither the City or the site owner had received confirmation from the Redfern-Waterloo Authority on the contribution to be made. The site owners have maintained that they are unable to finalise a planning agreement with the City in the absence of a known contribution to be made to the Redfern-Waterloo Authority.

The Planning Development & Transport Committee Meeting of Council on 5^th December 2005 Item 17 will consider putting the changed planning controls out for Public Exhibition. Chippendale Residents are concerned that the changes have not been made available with sufficient time for them to look at them and make representations to the committee.

Below we have provided the links to the council documents being considered for public exhibition:

 · Item 17 Listed in this Agenda | PDF 144Kb Report and Recommendations to Council

 · Item 17 Attachment A | PDF 6.7Mb Draft Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2005 (Amendment No. 1) - Carlton and United Breweries Site

 · Item 17 Attachment B | PDF 1.3Mb Draft Central Sydney Development Control Plan 1996 (Amendment No. 19) - Carlton and United Breweries Site

 · Item 17 Attachment C | PDF 250kb Previous Resolutions of the Central Sydney Planning Committee and Council in relation to the Carlton and United Breweries Site

 · Item 17 Attachment D | PDF 1.5Mb Discussion of how the resolutions of May 2004 has been met within the draft LEP and draft DCP

 · Item 17 Attachment E | PDF 589Kb Draft Conservation Management Plan by Noel Bell Ridley Smith, assisted by Godden Mackay Logan (executive summary and Conservation Policies - full copy available on request)

 · Item 17 Attachment F | PDF 959Kb Executive Summary (and selected extracts) of the CUB Site Market Assessment Report by SGS Economics and Planning (full copies can be provided on request).

 · Item 17 Attachment G | PDF 825 Submission to the Roads and Traffic Authority regarding the external Road configuration to the site

 · Item 17 Attachment H | PDF 326Kb Guiding Principles as previously adopted by the Council and the Central Sydney Planning Committee, and a statement of policy consistency with these

 · Item 17 Attachment I | PDF 326Kb Comments received in response to Section 62 Consultation 

Coming Events Now on the REDWatch Website

Coming Events are being added to the new Events section of the REDWatch website as we are advised of them so you no longer have to wait for an Update to find out what is happening. When you visit the REDWatch website you will see a calendar and a list of “Upcoming Events” on the right hand side of the screen.

If you wish to add an event just let us know. We hope that in the not too distant future we will be able to set this up so organisations can add their own events.