Ryde River Walk report about Glades Bay missing link to be finalised
Plans to complete the missing link for Ryde River Walk are ramping up but opponents say it would threaten property owners’ rights.
Northern District Times
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Ryde Mayor Jerome Laxale has urged Ryde River Walk opponents to stop robbing people of waterfront access as plans for its completion are back on the agenda.
The comments come as a report into a missing link to Ryde River Walk is being finalised. In May, the council requested the document to outline options and costs of extending the path from Bill Mitchell Park to Ross St at Glades Bay.
A group of five residents objects to the link.
Waterfront Action Group executive committee member John Douglas said completing the missing link would provide “a foot in the door” for other projects that would breach privacy.
“If this one is the starting point then it means any waterfront property in Ryde is potentially exposed and everyone else in NSW is opposed,’’ he said.
“It’s the principle of property rights and that’s not just Glades Bay people but all the Ryde waterfront group and anyone in NSW.
“They’re not wealthy people that have got huge waterfront properties — they’re modest properties.’’
Mr Douglas and the group is concerned there will be plans to access people’s properties, which he likened to having walkers in a driveway, for the entire Ryde River Walk, which
runs between Gladesville and Ryde bridges.
But Cr Laxale called on the council and the community to support the missing link.
“It’s a much-needed piece of infrastructure and we’ve got five property owners stopping access for the whole of Sydney to access public land,’’ he said.
“For six years people in Ryde have been robbed of access to the Parramatta River and the Parramatta River belongs to everybody, not just a handful of private landowners.’’
A report into the missing link will be tabled at the council’s October 24 meeting.