Pyrmont development: Consultants debate what type of dessert best represents Pyrmont

A high-powered group set up to discuss development in Pyrmont has decided the area would represent a chocolate pretzel if it were a dessert. What sweet treat would your area be? VOTE HERE

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Almost a year after Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared “Pyrmont is open for business”, a group set up to discuss development has so far only decided that if the suburb was a dessert it would be a chocolate pretzel.

But in an ominous warning for the future the group failed to reach unanimous agreement and hedged that the suburb might also be a bowl of fruit or a cheese platter.

Furious planning minister Rob Stokes said the consultants appointed by the Planning Department to run the “Bounce” community consultation group “should be focused less on desserts and more on development.”

Planning Minister Rob Stokes wants the group to focus less on dessert and more on getting things done. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Following the controversial rejection of the $530 million Ritz-Carlton hotel last year Mr Stokes said the area “can accommodate larger scale development” and set up a process to plan Pyrmont’s evolution.

The Premier also said Pyrmont was “ready to be taken to the next level” and that it was “gateway to the CBD”.

But the Bounce Group of interested parties has held only one meeting in which it debated desserts, leaving many members frustrated at the lack of discussion on the way forward.

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It is understood the independent company hired to run the Bounce Group sessions asked those attending the first meeting what dessert best represented Pyrmont as an “icebreaker” to get everybody talking.

But one attendee said it had the opposite effect with most feeling it was a waste of time – particularly when no one could agree on a single dessert that summed up the essence of the area.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says Pyrmont is the gateway to the CBD. Picture: AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi

The Bounce Group includes representatives from The Star, Sydney Business Chamber, Sydney Fish Markets and local community members who were vocally opposed to the Ritz-Carlton tower.

“They should stop trifling with unimportant matters – the future of global Sydney is just too important,” Mr Stokes said.

“My expectation is that the new masterplan is fast-tracked so we can get on with creating a vibrant precinct on the doorstep of the CBD.”

James Hulme, director of advocacy for the Committee for Sydney, is on the Bounce Group and was underwhelmed with the process, which is supposed to contribute to a decision on the future of Pyrmont in just four months' time.

“I’m a big fan of dessert but am not sure this exercise hits the sweet spot,” he said. “Pyrmont has great potential to be an economic powerhouse for Sydney, but time is ticking to make that vision a reality.

“With the country entering an economic downturn, now is the time to talk jobs rather than jelly and productivity not pretzels.”

This week the green light was given for work to begin on the new $750 million Sydney Fish Markets at Blackwattle Bay. It means the existing fish markets site can be redeveloped, opening up the harbour foreshore and building new apartments and offices to take pressure off the CBD.

If these pretzels were chocolate-covered, they would represent Pyrmont. Picture: www.taste.com.au

But plans for towers up to 45 storeys high have already run into opposition from Lord Mayor Clover Moore and independent local MP Alex Greenwich.

Mr Hulme said: “We want to see the precinct optimised with more investment in infrastructure, a revitalised harbour and the creation of many more jobs and investment.

“Pyrmont will be vital to helping Sydney come out of recession and rebuild for the future. The time for action is now”.

Originally published as Pyrmont development: Consultants debate what type of dessert best represents Pyrmont