Sydney Metro: Nightmare on Lancelot St as tunnelling imminent
Confusion, fear and anger have engulfed inner city Lancelot St in Five Dock, with residents worried about the imminent arrival of Sydney Metro’s tunnel boring machines.
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Confusion, fear and anger have engulfed inner city Lancelot St in Five Dock, with residents worried about the imminent arrival of Sydney Metro’s tunnel boring machines.
Property owners said that they only became aware of the plans to tunnel below Lancelot St in July 2021 when a letter from Sydney Metro dropped into their letterboxes, with little information and only an offer of a free property condition survey.
Recently, individuals from the tranquil street converged at one neighbour’s home to discuss their concerns.
Joined by Canada Bay Labor councillor Andrew Ferguson, residents aired their worries and anger about what they perceive to be a general lack of communication by representatives from Sydney Metro, as well as significant changes to the depths of the tunnel.
They vowed to “dig deep” to get assurances about vibrations and potential cracking from Sydney Metro.
An environmental impact statement from 2020 showed that the depth of the tunnels on Lancelot St would sit about 35-38m, but this has since been reduced to only 21m.
Wary of the effect tunnel boring by WestConnex had on the homes in nearby Strathfield, residents are worried about potential cracking in their houses, a lot of which are around 100 years old.
In a report from 2020, ‘high impact’ from noise and vibration was predicted in the areas around the Five Dock station. The report also noted the prevalence of ‘vibration sensitive structures’ in the area.
Lancelot residents – led by a core group – are worried.
Saumiya Nathan, a resident of Lancelot St, said that she’s concerned about the tunnel depth and doesn’t think Sydney Metro has done enough to reassure those on the street.
“I can never get a straight answer from them,” Ms Nathan said.
“We’ve got a lot of old properties and we’re a very narrow street, it’s not wide.
“How much vibration is going to come through? It’s almost like a wait-and-see approach.”
No environmental impact assessment has been done for tunnel boring on Lancelot St, only contributing to the sense of worry among residents.
Sydney Metro has said that there are “strict conditions to minimise noise and vibration”, and that residents “are unlikely to notice trains through the tunnels once operational”.
“Sydney Metro has been engaging with the community since formal planning for the Metro West project started in 2019,” a spokesman said.
“More than 188 people gave their feedback during the planning approvals process in mid-2020, before the tunnels received planning approvals in March 2021.
“The planning process clearly outlined that the detailed design of the alignment could change as the project progressed into detailed design and delivery.
“During construction with tunnel boring machines, some properties may hear low level noise and feel some vibration. Generally, this lasts for less than a day or two as the tunnel boring machine move forwards.”
However, residents remain on edge.
“I’ve asked Sydney Metro: have you done an environmental impact assessment on our street,” Ms Nathan said.
“No, they said they haven’t.
“There’s also been no explanation as to why the depth of the tunnel has changed from around 35m to now 21m – we’ve received no explanation at all.”
Residents expressed their exasperation that they perceived that they couldn’t get clear explanations from Sydney Metro – with confusion about the initial route, the vibrations due to tunnel boring and construction noise.
Property owners believe that the initial route was supposed to go down Garfield St, although Sydney Metro has said that the original alignment always included Lancelot St.
There’s also uncertainty about when boring machines will actually come down their street, with no specific date, stirring more uncertainty among residents.
Cr Ferguson said that while residents know that tunnelling is coming, they want some clear answers and assurances.
“Canada Bay welcomes the Sydney Metro, but the needs of local residents must come first,” he said.
Christian Leung, director at property group Stone Five Dock, said that while he believed that house prices in the area in the long-term would hold, if not improve, there were concerns for properties during the drilling process.
“A lot of these homes that are built in the inner west are 100-year-old homes on clay, there’s no real sort of foundation,” Mr Leung said.
“And obviously you had stories a couple of years ago where there were big cracks in old homes as a result of WestConnex tunnelling, which is a concern for homeowners.
“The period during the tunnelling – the noise and vibrations that come with that – is a worry for property owners.”
Sydney Metro has agreed to meet with residents next month to address specific concerns.
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