North Sydney councillors clash over Western Harbour Tunnel, Beaches Link projects
A war of words has broken out over Sydney’s newest motorway tunnels amid community opposition to impacts including the removal of hundreds of trees.
North Shore
Don't miss out on the headlines from North Shore. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Warring councillors have clashed over Sydney’s newest motorway tunnels amid heightened community concern over impacts including the removal of hundreds of trees.
The impacts of the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link tunnels dominated debate between North Sydney councillors at a meeting this week as critics of the motorways called for an immediate halt on planning and construction activity.
Work on the multibillion-dollar Western Harbour Tunnel linking the lower north shore to Rozelle has already commenced with early works resulting in hundreds of trees removed along the tunnel pathway.
The Beaches Link – linking the Western Harbour Tunnel to the northern beaches – has yet to be approved by the Department of Planning but the state government has committed to building the project.
North Sydney Council has now called on the government not to enter into any contracts for the third stage of the Western Harbour Tunnel or the Beaches Link projects prior to the 2023 state election.
The call was based on a motion backed by eight of 10 councillors and also includes writing to the state opposition seeking a commitment to “immediately halt and review” the projects if elected in March.
It comes amid ongoing community backlash over the removal of at least 575 trees at Cammeray Park where residents turned out earlier this month to protest against the project.
Councillor Ian Mutton – a critic of the motorway – believes the state government should “pause and reconsider the damage it’s doing to North Sydney with no explanation and no compensation”.
“Perhaps a new administration can actually look at the damage it’s doing in this single minded focus to build a freeway without consideration of the people of North Sydney,” he said.
Councillor Jilly Gibson said any pause to the Western Harbour Tunnel project could cause delays to the construction timeline and lead to further negative impacts on the community.
“No one likes losing trees, I was devastated at the tree loss, but the trees are gone and we now have a brown wasteland in Cammeray Park,” she said.
“How long will a review take – one year, two years? Are we just going to have that ruined brown scar across our environment while we review it?
“We’re too late to halt this and we should be spending our time trying to ameliorate the effects on our community.”
Mayor Zoe Baker said her concerns over the next stages of the Western Harbour Tunnel included the construction of unfiltered ‘smoke stacks’ that will be used to funnel exhaust out of the motorways.
“If the third stage of the Western Harbour Tunnel is to continue and the Beaches link is built, the outcome for our local government area will be far worse than we’ve already seen,” she said.
“There will be pollution stacks 30m high within 40m of ANZAC Park Public School. There is no business case for either of these projects – there’s a lack of transparency and a clear environmental devastation without any benefit to the people of North Sydney.”
In a statement, Transport for NSW said it would replace all trees removed on a two-to-one replanting ratio.
“Tree removal is understandably a sensitive community issue, which is why as part of this project we will be delivering an increase to the local tree canopy,” a spokeswoman said.
“Given the limited availability of space in the urbanised project area and our desire to minimise acquisition of private property, some public land – including trees – along the Warringah Freeway corridor was utilised to build this critical infrastructure project.
“Transport is always looking to refine and minimise the number of trees impacted and will continue to work closely with key stakeholders, including North Sydney Council, to explore opportunities to start replanting trees and vegetation progressively during construction to enhance urban amenity for the community.”
The state opposition has previously committed to scrapping the Beaches Link project but has not ruled out continuing next stages of the Western Harbour Tunnel.
Cr Gibson believes calls to stop the project were an act of “political grandstanding” leading up to the March election.
Councillor Georgia Lamb supported a halt to the works – saying she would “prefer to have a scar than let it turn it into a gaping open wound that’s going to poison our kids”.
The council will also write to the federal government calling for it to provide no further federal funding for the motorways.
North Sydney Council acting general manager Robert Emerson told the North Shore Times the council was continuing to lobby the state government for improvements to the project.
“North Sydney already has a poor amount of public space and has a worse ratio for our population than the City of Sydney,” he said.
“We’re continually meeting with the state government to mitigate the damage it’s doing including the significant loss of public open space, trees, and ventilation.“
Sydney Women’s Rugby: Meet 40+ stars on show in the finals
From international stars to rising young guns and those just happy to be alongside their besties, the Sydney Women’s Rugby finals has everyone covered. 40+ talents from all four divisions.
AFL Sydney future watch: Meet 50 bright young male and female talents
The pathway to the top starts here. These young stars from AFL Sydney are building their reputations early, and could be future draft picks in the making. See the full list of 50 rising talents.