St Peter Chanel Church (image Wikimedia)

The Marist Fathers have owned the land at 5 Crescent Street Woolwich since 1889 when they bought it from George Shannon Arthur and William Cope for 700 pounds.  The Council, in recognition of the contribution the church, its buildings and curtilage makes to the community, has waived collection of rates on the land since that time – 127 years.

The Marist Fathers now want to create two house blocks of around 1000m2 each along the northern boundary of the land, which has a frontage to Crescent Street.

Most of the existing trees, shrubs and ground cover will be removed to allow the construction of buildings, garages, driveways and recreation areas. 

This would be a very bad outcome for the community:

• The curtilage of the Church, which is is included in the heritage listing, will be significantly reduced
• The beautiful park-like setting of the church will be significantly changed for the worse
• The character of the Conservation Area, particularly in Crescent St will be adversely impacted by the replacement of the landscaped area along the boundary of the church with houses and driveways and the removal of large chunks of the existing rock forms.

Open this link to see the aerial view more clearly.