North head: Harbour Trust’s ‘bullish plans’ to get work done
The Harbour Trust has ‘bullish plans’ to reactivate North Head quickly, despite fears from the NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes that nothing will change.
Manly
Don't miss out on the headlines from Manly. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Harbour Trust has “bullish plans” to reactivate North Head as soon as possible according to the chairman, following an independent review that found the body should remain trustees of the iconic site.
However, NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes voiced his disappointment over the decision saying he was “cranky” that he had not been allowed to engage with the Federal Government running the review and that he feared “nothing would change” at the site.
The 80 buildings at North Head, many with a former military history have been sat mainly unused and in an ever decreasing state of disrepair since the trust took charge of the site in 2006.
Mr Stokes said it would have made sense to have one custodian of all the harbour sites to ensure “one vision” and less bureaucracy, instead of some of them run by state and some by the trust.
He said he didn’t care whether the sites were all run by federal, state or the trust but that would have been the best decision.
However, chairman of the trust Joseph Carrozzi told the Manly Daily that now there was more clarity on the future role of the trust that it would be able to work better with the state government without administration hold-ups.
He said they would move quickly while there was momentum to consult with the community and have a vision in place for August or September to put to Federal Government in the hope of getting the required funding to activate North Head and Cockatoo Island.
“That’s how bullish we are with our plans,” he said.
He said ideas were to open up more military tunnels at North Head as well as opening up the “plotting room” where wartime decisions were made.
Other than that he said he was looking at all ideas being put forward for the site including those from Northern Beaches Council, which in a report suggested using the parade ground as an outdoor cinema and for open air concerts, as well as renovating some of the buildings for indoor sports.
Mr Carrozzi said the “overriding objective was to that the site told a layered story of Australia”.
Meanwhile, Senator Andrew Bragg Liberal spokesman for Warringah, said he commended
Minister Sussan Ley and the Morrison Government for leading such an important review. However, he slammed Warringah’s independent MP Zali Steggall for spreading fear that these sites under the trust might be privatised or developed.
Ms Steggall said the decision of the review is a “win for the Warringah community” and said she was pleased to see the reviewers and the Minister Ley had listened to the calls that she and many others in the community made to ensure the Harbour Trust remains focused on preservation and conservation of these iconic sites.
She thanked “the community who made submissions, attended forums and raised their voices to help safeguard these iconic sites, especially the Headland Preservation Group”.