GREENS MLC David Shoebridge says UrbanGrowth’s rezoning plans for the Newcastle rail corridor will open the way for wall to wall buildings on land that should be preserved in public ownership. Mr Shoebridge was in Newcastle on Thursday morning after UrbanGrowth released details of its application to Newcastle City Council to rezone the corridor to allow for a variety of construction and open space uses. About 30 people – most of them veterans of the long debate over Newcastle’s rail line – joined Mr Shoebridge and Newcastle Greens councillor Therese Doyle in a corridor protest that was driven under cover by high winds and intermittent rain. Mr Shoebridge said the rezoning application was no surprise because “the closure of the rail line was never about improved transport but was always the Baird Government pandering to the developer industry”. “What is disappointing is just how appallingly predictable this all was, from day one the Greens opposed the closure of the rail line because we know just how toxic the link between government and developers is in NSW,” Mr Shoebridge said. “We know from past experience that as soon as public land is rezoned, open space is lost and private profits wins out. The photo montages being spruiked by UrbanGrowth have no connection with reality, their proposal is a blanket rezoning of public space. “If Novacastrians wanted a rolled gold reason to protect their council from Baird’s forced amalgamations, this is it. We can be certain that a handpicked Administrator will approve this rezoning as a first item of business.” Cr Doyle said UrbanGrowth had deliberately distorted the outcomes of the public consultation process by effectively excluding all of the submissions that did not fit in with what it wanted. She said it did not listen to written submissions because it argued those people were “too involved” in the process to have objective opinions. It then double counted some of the results from a phone survey that it said was the only “statistically valid” picture of public opinion in order to claim that three-quarters of the public supported what it was doing. The latest stage of the long rail debate kicked off on Wednesday when UrbanGrowth announced it had lodged a rezoning application to the council with the aim of having the corridor east of Worth Place, near Union Street, rezoned from infrastructure to a range of zonings that would allow construction in some areas and open space in others. UrbanGrowth Newcastle director Michael Cassel said the council would have the final say in any rezonings. But Mr Shoebridge and Cr Doyle said the council was likely to be sacked as part of the Baird government’s amalgamation policy, meaning the rezonings could be ticked off by a government-appointed administrator. But Cr Doyle said that even if that did not happen, the state government could call in the rezonings as “state significant and give the decision to the NSW Department of Planning, in much the same way that Newcastle council was stripped of planning powers over Honeysuckle in the 1990s. Mr Shoebridge said an Upper House inquiry into Crown Land would be coming to Newcastle in August and would be looking at the rail corridor. Read more in Friday’s Newcastle Herald. Watch Mr Shoebridge’s speech below:
GREENS MLC David Shoebridge says UrbanGrowth’s rezoning plans for the Newcastle rail corridor will open the way for wall to wall buildings on land that should be preserved in public ownership.
Mr Shoebridge was in Newcastle on Thursday morning after UrbanGrowth released details of its application to Newcastle City Council to rezone the corridor to allow for a variety of construction and open space uses.
About 30 people – most of them veterans of the long debate over Newcastle’s rail line – joined Mr Shoebridge and Newcastle Greens councillor Therese Doyle in a corridor protest that was driven under cover by high winds and intermittent rain.
Mr Shoebridge said the rezoning application was no surprise because “the closure of the rail line was never about improved transport but was always the Baird Government pandering to the developer industry”.
“What is disappointing is just how appallingly predictable this all was, from day one the Greens opposed the closure of the rail line because we know just how toxic the link between government and developers is in NSW,” Mr Shoebridge said.
“We know from past experience that as soon as public land is rezoned, open space is lost and private profits wins out. The photo montages being spruiked by UrbanGrowth have no connection with reality, their proposal is a blanket rezoning of public space.
“If Novacastrians wanted a rolled gold reason to protect their council from Baird’s forced amalgamations, this is it. We can be certain that a handpicked Administrator will approve this rezoning as a first item of business.”
Cr Doyle said UrbanGrowth had deliberately distorted the outcomes of the public consultation process by effectively excluding all of the submissions that did not fit in with what it wanted.
She said it did not listen to written submissions because it argued those people were “too involved” in the process to have objective opinions.
It then double counted some of the results from a phone survey that it said was the only “statistically valid” picture of public opinion in order to claim that three-quarters of the public supported what it was doing.
The latest stage of the long rail debate kicked off on Wednesday when UrbanGrowth announced it had lodged a rezoning application to the council with the aim of having the corridor east of Worth Place, near Union Street, rezoned from infrastructure to a range of zonings that would allow construction in some areas and open space in others.
UrbanGrowth Newcastle director Michael Cassel said the council would have the final say in any rezonings.
But Mr Shoebridge and Cr Doyle said the council was likely to be sacked as part of the Baird government’s amalgamation policy, meaning the rezonings could be ticked off by a government-appointed administrator.
But Cr Doyle said that even if that did not happen, the state government could call in the rezonings as “state significant and give the decision to the NSW Department of Planning, in much the same way that Newcastle council was stripped of planning powers over Honeysuckle in the 1990s.
Mr Shoebridge said an Upper House inquiry into Crown Land would be coming to Newcastle in August and would be looking at the rail corridor.
