Homes, parks, golf course to be acquired for construction of Western Harbour Tunnel
Residents on Sydney’s north shore will be forced to relocate from their homes — while sections of a popular golf course will also be acquired — as part of new construction plans for the Western Harbour Tunnel. Find out what properties are impacted.
North Shore
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More than a dozen homes, businesses and sections of a popular golf course will be acquired under new plans for Sydney’s next major tunnel project.
The Environment Impact Statement for the Western Harbour Tunnel has revealed 28 properties will be fully or partially acquired for construction of the estimated $15 billion project, due to begin this year.
Twenty properties will be fully acquired and demolished including a 12 unit block of flats at 1-3 Morden St in Cammeray along with adjacent homes at 36 and 53 Bellevue St.
Plans stated residents would need to permanently relocate prior to construction, resulting in potential “impacts on their health and wellbeing”.
“These impacts are likely to have the greatest effect on groups such as elderly, people with a disability, longer term residents and people on lower incomes who are often more reliant on personal and community networks,” the plans stated.
Also earmarked for demolition are sections of 291 Ernest St in Neutral Bay, a business at 5 Waltham St in Artarmon and a strip of land outside the Hare Krishna Temple in North Sydney.
A 25,000 sqm section of Cammeray Golf Course would also be become a “construction support site” housing site offices, an acoustic shed and facilities buildings for up to five years.
Works at the government-owned site would involve redesigning the golf course, including potential reductions in the length of fairways, modifications to golfing pars and the removal of trees along the Warringah Fwy.
Documents stated “noise, dust and construction traffic” generated from the project may impact the “amenity of the course” and could “deter some people from using the course during construction phases.”
Plans released on Wednesday have also confirmed a construction support site will be built in a southeastern section of St Leonards Park, next to North Sydney Bowling Club.
Documents stated works at the site could “detract from the use and enjoyment” of the park and result in potential noise and dust impacts on the bowling club, users of North Sydney Oval and the nearby KU Grandstand Preschool.
Other sites confirmed for construction activities include waterfront land at Berrys Bay in Waverton and 10 per cent of Anzac Park in North Sydney.
Merlin Street Reserve would also be closed to make way for a construction support site with a section of the park to be permanently acquired for road widening of the Warringah Fwy.
Roads and Maritime Services previously told News Local the authority understood compulsory property acquisitions was a sensitive issue.
Transport for NSW said it has employed staff to assist landowners affected by the project.
Plans show the project would also require sub-surface acquisition of land under privately-owned homes with further details to be released ahead of construction.
Roads and Maritime Services said areas of Cammeray Golf Course not required for permanent project infrastructure would be “reinstated and rehabilitated” once works are completed.