The big squeeze. Photo Jessica Shapiro, SMH 2016

Garry Linnell wonders about the consequences of the massive social engineering experiment that is happening in Sydney right now:

We need to talk about the toll of apartment living

Source: AUSIMAGE  Sinclair Knight

Backyards have dramatically shrunk in size and hard surfaces have replaced greenery.  What are the consequences for all of us?

This aerial view of two housing schemes on opposite sides of a main road in Brisbane illustrates the magnitude of the change in the size of the backyards over a short period of time.  

This article in Landscape Australia explores the implications for children, communities, biodiversity, water and energy use.

Female Factory, Asylum, Cumberland Hospital

Female Factory, by Augustus Earle  nla.pic-an2818460

What ever happened to the plans for an Arts and Heritage precinct in Parramatta?

The North Parramatta Government precinct covers 32 hectares of public land.  It includes buildings of immense cultural and historic significance such as the convict built Female Factory designed by Francis Greenway in 1818, fine examples of Federation and Arts and Crafts style buildings designed by Barnet and Vernon as well as 150 year old formal plantings by Charles Moore.

An estimated 1 in 7 Australians today is descended from the convict women of the Female Factory.

The State government says the land is “surplus” and plans to sell it for private residential development of 4000+ units in 30 storey towers.  And that’s before developers get to apply for extensions to those heights under the LEP.   North Parramatta Residents’ Action Group says NO and seeks support.  The video below gives an idea of just a small part of what is at stake:

Illustration by Katie Scott

In a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald on December 2, Jennifer Crone of Bondi described the nightmare of six days a week building happening opposite her apartment.  She is faced with the prospect of 60 trucks a day emitting diesel exhaust fumes and intense noise into her apartment from breakfast to dusk for the anticipated 2 year build.

She noted the extreme stress this will cause particularly to people with very young children, shift workers and the elderly and canvassed the possibility of developers paying for the temporary resettlement of those affected.

I wrote in response that I understood her pain because my own street, Bonnefin Road, has been a building site for the last six years.   But at least it is relatively temporary.

That’s not the case for the people living in all those new apartments that continue to sprout up and down both sides of Sydney’s busiest roads.  All day every day they have to suffer extreme levels of traffic noise and air pollution from the ever increasing numbers of vehicles roaring up and down outside their windows.

Reports commissioned by The NSW Department of Planning, which is responsible for this situation, show that exposure to these levels of pollution and noise is bad for your physical and mental health, impacts on your children’s learning ability and takes years off your life expectancy.

In aiding and abetting the continuation of this planning disaster they are acting like that infamous asbestos denier James Hardie.

The Hunters Hill Trust joins key community organisations, parliamentarians and individuals to endorse the Community Charter for Good Planning, which sets out principles to achieve a better, fairer and more accountable planning system in NSW.  If you want to endorse the Charter too, then click here

Come to the launch of the Community Charter

7pm Thursday March 5th

St Andrews Uniting Church

47A Kenneth Street, Longueville.  See map

Light supper will be served

Donation at the door

Come to the launch of the Community Charter and hear what the local candidates for the state seat of Lane Cove have to say about how planning and development will be conducted in NSW in future.

THURSDAY MARCH 5^TH 2015, 7PM

St Andrews Uniting Church, 47A Kenneth Street, Longueville

Light supper will be served, donation at the door.

MC: Genia McCaffery, former long-serving Mayor of North Sydney.  Speakers:

• Rod Simpson, Associate Professor,  Urban Design, Faculty of Architecture, Design & Planning, University of Sydney
• Kylie Bryden-Smith, Local issues: the experience with the developments of the Mowbray Road Precinct
• Candidates for the seat of Lane Cove have been invited to attend.

Hunters Hill Trust has endorsed the Community Charter.  Download a copy here.

Individuals can also endorse the Charter by clicking here.

The launch will be co-Hosted by the Lane Cove Bushland and Conservation Society, Stringybark Creek Residents Association and Hunters Hill Trust.

Get more information about the Community Charter.

Harold park development

It is hard to comprehend the scale – and the social impact of 50,000 new dwellings in high rise buildings along Parramatta Road

• Granville to be as dense as Ultimo?
• Homebush to be like St Leonards?
• Camperdown to be as dense as Harold Park?
• Kings Bay to be like Crows Nest?
• Taverners Hill like Breakfast Point?

Burwood, Leichhardt and Auburn are all facing similar impacts

Read more:  Massive increase in density is planned

Why would we want to build the world’s largest underground tollway system based on out-of-date, discredited ideas?

People of NSW want regular, reliable public transport systems.

See more from SMH:   Ramming through a discredited freeway