Ku-ring-gai Council’s bushcare volunteer of the year Bronwen Hanna resigns over Pymble synthetic turf upgrade

A respected bushcare co-ordinator who won a council award for her volunteering efforts has resigned in protest over plans to replace grass with synthetic turf at a popular north shore sporting hub.

A respected bushcare co-ordinator who won a council award for her volunteering efforts has resigned in protest over council plans to replace natural grass with synthetic turf at a popular north shore sporting hub.

Bronwen Hanna has tendered her resignation as Ku-ring-gai Council’s bushcare co-ordinator for the Quarry Creek and Little Yanko bushcare sites due to environment concerns over a multimillion dollar synthetic field upgrade of Norman Griffiths Oval at West Pymble.

The council said the synthetic field – which was approved by councillors in September – would address current demand for sporting facilities in the local government area along with the region’s population growth.

Ms Hanna – who has been co-ordinating the restoration of the bushland sites for the last five years – said she had concerns over the lack of mitigation plans associated with the project, including potential environmental impacts on the bushcare sites.

In her resignation letter, she wrote: “Given the hours of effort that I and other volunteers have put into the site, I am disappointed in the way that council staff have treated our attempts to ensure the site continues to flourish.”

Bronwen Hanna has been leading bushcare efforts in the community.

Her resignation comes after Ms Hanna was awarded Ku-ring-gai Council’s Bushcare Volunteer of the Year Award in 2021.

“Bushcare volunteers have been working on our sites for about 25 years – it was weed infested with lantana when it started and it’s been completely regenerated and the question is what the impact will be,” she said.

A concept plan of the synthetic turf upgrade.

“There’s been a lack of transparency around the mitigation plans and one of the concerns is that the project was approved without the completion of a review of environmental factors.

“For a field that is in a critically endangered plant community, it’s completely inadequate for the council to go ahead to contract before the review is finalised and published.

“The field is in flood prone land and we’d like to see what mitigation strategies will be in place to ensure what’s happened at other synthetic fields around erosion, tree deaths and run-off doesn’t occur here.

“The council’s declined all our requests to meet and discuss questions around mitigation strategies which would allay concerns and instead volunteers have been forced to seek information through freedom of information requests which has taken time and money.”

The project is designed to support sporting groups.

Ku-ring-gai Council in a statement said the design of the synthetic field is currently being finalised and will incorporate biofilter swales, a gross pollution trap and a series of absorption pits and shoe cleaning grates to minimise cork migration.

“A preliminary review of environmental factors has been developed. This is to confirm site suitability and provide all tenderers with an understanding of environmentally sensitive matters. The final REF and design will be made public once council officers have approved,” a spokeswoman said.

The council said the need for the synthetic turf was partly addressed at population growth that will create increased demand for playing fields in the region.

“It will contribute to meeting the demand. However as identified in the Northern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils 2017 report into the availability and demand for sportsfields, there will be an overall shortfall by the year 2030,” the spokeswoman said.

A photo of Norman Griffiths Oval which is prone to flooding and often unusable after rain.

“It will provide an environmentally sensitive synthetic field upgrade to replace the turf field which currently performs poorly and is sometimes unusable due to surface and weather conditions.”

Ms Hanna’s resignation is the latest development in a fraught history of the Norman Griffiths Oval upgrade after a petition opposing synthetic turf at the site was signed by more than 1780 people during planning stages.

But sporting groups have backed the project, including the Northern Suburbs Football Association and West Pymble FC which have long struggled with drainage issues and grass coverage at the site.

The Northern Suburbs Football Association said its current season had been “significantly affected by rain throughout the first half of the year” with the oval only open for one weekend of senior football fixtures this year.

A photo of a synthetic turf field being laid.

“With our player numbers expected to grow to 20,000 by the year 2026, this upgrade is essential to allow our community the opportunity to continue playing their chosen sport,” chief executive Edward Ferguson said.

“It will provide an environmentally sensitive synthetic field upgrade to replace the turf field which currently performs poorly and is sometimes unusable due to surface and weather conditions.”

The project is not the only synthetic turf field to face resistance on the north shore with Lane Cove Council backflipping on synthetic turf upgrade on Bob Campbell Oval last year, while North Sydney Council also reneged on plans for a synthetic turf field at Anderson Park in response to community opposition.

Tony Butteriss, the chair of the Friends of Lane Cove National Park, said environmental impacts and concerns over the “heat effect” of synthetic turf were among key concerns from opponents.

“They seem to be popping up more and more and part of the problem is instead of building new sports facilities, they’re putting synthetic fields in parks not realising how bigger a problem they potentially are,” he said.

Ms Hanna said bushcare volunteers had also failed in requests to Ku-ring-gai Council for independent monitoring of Quarry Creek before and after the field’s construction to assess potential impacts.

“I totally understand the sporting clubs are dealing with a bog hole at the moment but I think there should the funding for the project could be better spent on drainage or a new generation natural turf field,” she said. “It shouldn’t come at the expense of environmentally sensitive sites.”