Minister confirms proposed WestConnex construction tunnel just 36m from classrooms at Leichhardt has been dumped
A MASSIVE WestConnex tunnelling site proposed to be built just 36m from classrooms at an inner-west high school has been scrapped.
Inner West
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A MASSIVE WestConnex tunnelling site proposed to be built just 36m from classrooms at an inner-west high school has been scrapped.
Officials at the Leichhardt Campus of Sydney Secondary College were told by WestConnex Minister Stuart Ayres that derelict tram sheds next to the school will not be used as a construction site to build the motorway’s M4-M5 Link.
Mr Ayres visited the school this morning to tell principal Melinda Bright the news.
Grayndler federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese, who campaigned against the tram shed site, was also at the meeting.
But Mr Ayres confirmed to the Inner West Courier that the Woolworths-owned Dan Murphy’s bottle shop in nearby Darley Rd, Lilyfield, is now the only remaining option for the midpoint access tunnel.
A dive site has already been confirmed on Parramatta Rd and Pyrmont Bridge Rd at Camperdown.
Earlier this week students at the Leichhardt Campus, who feared lessons would be wrecked and their health ruined by the WestConnex tunnelling site, announced they had organised a protest rally for this Sunday with the help of the P & C committee.
They said if the project went ahead, students would have to put up with four years of noise, vibrations and dust.
Tunnel planners had been considering both the high school and bottle shop sites for the tunnel work, but Mr Ayres said Dan Murphy’s was “the only option that will be included in the project’s design when released for public consultation in coming weeks”.
If the bottle shop, which opened for business in December, is compulsorily acquired by Roads and Maritime Services, the State Government could be hit with a $50 million compensation claim for lost business and revenue.
But Leichhardt and Lilyfield residents have been campaigning against any dive site in the areas, including Darley Rd.
Leichhardt Against WestConnex (LAW) said the Dan Murphy’s site was unsuitable due to historic road accident fatalities, congested traffic issues and the inability to safely get trucks in and out of the site.
“LAW now calls on the Minister to rule out the equally offensive Darley Rd dive site proposal,” co-convener Christina Valentine said.
“Darley Rd is a substandard road, long acknowledged as a traffic and accident black spot.
“It belies common sense to bring 200 plus trucks onto this site given its history of fatalities. This will result in traffic gridlock on the City West Link and on this critical arterial road and will devastate nearby homes and local businesses in Leichhardt.
“LAW also calls on the Minister to explain why the taxpayer will be forced to pay up to $50 million in compensation, given Dan Murphy’s was allowed to open a new business on a previously derelict site after been informed it was likely to be acquired for a dive site,.”
Ms Valentine said the Leichhardt community has been fighting against any dive site in the area since it was first proposed last year.
“LAW calls on Anthony Albanese to immediately and publicly reject 7 Darley Road as a suitable dive site based on all of the evidence provided by independent experts regarding the safety and suitability of this site.
“He now needs to stand up and fight for the whole of Leichhardt.”
Ann-Therese King, the No WestConnex at Leichhardt High P & C co-ordinator, said the decision was a fantastic win for the community “especially the students and parents who refused to accept that education could be compromised in such an appalling way”.
“That said, we remain opposed to a dive site anywhere in the Leichhardt area and will continue to support LAW in their efforts to protect our local community,” Ms King said.
Mr Albanese said the “reckless” proposal would have caused considerable disruption to the education of the almost 1000 students.
“I congratulate the P & C, staff, students and the broader school community for their strong campaign against this absurd idea,” he said.
“This outcome follows wins for the community with the saving of Blackmore Oval in Leichhardt, Ashfield Park and Rozelle’s Easton Park from being sacrificed for the Westconnex project.
Sydney needs infrastructure. But it should not be done at the expense of proper community consultation and the best possible outcome.”
Inner West Council administrator Richard Pearson said an engineer’s report commissioned by council, which said both sites were unsuitable, would have played a part in the Government’s decision.
“The report clearly showed both options presented major problems in terms of road safety, noise, traffic and other impacts on local residents, school students and the wider community,” Mr Pearson said.
“So the announcement this morning that at least the site adjacent to a high school will not go ahead is very welcome.
“This is a big win for Council and community advocacy.
“What I don’t want, however, is to find out that the NSW Government — having ruled out Derbyshire Street — is now going ahead with the Darley Road site.”
Mr Pearson said he has asked Council officers to give further consideration to the suitability of the western end of the Rozelle Rail Yards site as a potential alternative dive site.
“While it’s not Council’s job to do this, I want to have a fall back option in case Sydney Motorway Corporation continues to pursue the Darley Road site that we have ruled out as completely inappropriate.”
Camperdown Residents Aware of WestConnex (CRAW) convenor Lesley Treleaven said continuing to have Darley Rd as a dive site option was a huge setback for the community.
“CRAW remains opposed not only to two dive sites . . . . but to all stages 1 2 and 3 of the destructive WestConnex project which will not solve Sydneys traffic chaos.”
Greens spokeswoman on WestConnex and MP for Newtown, Jenny Leong, said it was a preposterous suggestion to locate a tunnelling site next to a school, but the alternative site was also totally unsuitable.
”It’s unacceptable for the government to put the community in a position where they have to choose between a rock and a hard place,” Ms Leong said.
Mr Ayres said because the Government’s preferred site for an access tunnel was in Darley Rd, it decided not to put the old tram shed site forward as an option in the forthcoming design plan and EIS for the M4-M5 Link.
“Both sites were pretty even,” he said. “As we continued to develop the EIS one became more obvious than the other and when the (school) site became a clear second-best site my view is that there wouldn’t be two sites in the EIS.
“The EIS will go forward with the Darley site only for public consultation.”
Mr Ayres said the decision to drop the tram shed site was not influenced by the planned protest meeting outside the school on Sunday.
RMS will handle the acquisition of the Dan Murphy’s site from its current owners.
Mr Ayres said the midpoint tunnel construction site will be used for soil removal and as a launching site for the tunnelling machines, ensuring the $7 billion missing link between the New M5 at St Peters and the M4 East at Haberfield, is delivered as quickly as possible.
“Establishing a temporary tunnelling site between Haberfield and Rozelle will allow us to build the missing link between the M4 and M5 motorways faster and ensure we can give back land for green space to the community,” he said.
Education Minister Rob Stokes said this was a great result for the school community.
“We have listened to the school community and I thank them for their strong representations, which have helped me in advocating for the right result for the school.”
Designs for the M4-M5 link are set to be released in coming weeks, with the EIS released midyear.
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