Alarm bells for Croquet Lawn and Figtree Park

Residents at the recent meeting called by Council to discuss the future of  Figtree Park and community cottages at 40-48 Gladesville Road. Council needs to be much more open and specific about its intentions in relation to this project.  That the Land and Property Management Authority is investigating the ‘commercial opportunities’ that may exist in this area and is apparently driving this process, is causing alarm, particularly given the fact that Figtree Park is a major part of this study and may be at risk.

The Hunters Hill Trust is categorically opposed to any loss of open green space in the Municipality.  In this particular case this includes the croquet lawn.  Open green space is particularly important in this area because of future increases in residential density in the immediate vicinity as the re-development of Ryde Road gets under way. 

We disagree with any argument that belittles open space because it is not “used by many people” – our parks and gardens are an essential element in the suburban landscape whether people use them or not.   However we would support any proposal to increase usage so long as it retains the landscaped character of the park.  This could include the creation of a community and native garden – a concept already well developed and presented to Council previously.  We would also support a fenced-off children’s play area and a small café, which could be combined with any upgrade of the Community Hall (for which State Government grants may be available).

Incidentally, the consultants were unaware that a proposal for a community garden had been put to Council and also seemed surprised that there was such high value placed on the park remaining intact.

The Trust believes that any building development involved in the upgrading of the existing community facilities should be of a scale that is no more than the existing two-storey maximum.

Finally, we are concerned that money is being spent on consultants at a time when there are funding difficulties for Council and feel that this process could have been managed in-house. And, despite the fact that most of us are now quite cynical of the butchers-paper and yellow-stick-it style of “consultation”, we remain willing to continue to participate in the meetings as long as we can be confident that the strong message coming from the community about the retention of the park lands and the need to restrict the scale of development will be incorporated into any proposal.

Yours sincerely

Tony Coote,

President The Hunters Hill Trust