Developers, council clash over Ashbury Peace Park proposal

Ashbury’s Peace Park is the battleground for a zoning dispute between Canterbury-Bankstown council and a developer, as the council calls on the state government to repurchase the land.

Ashbury’s Peace Park is the battleground for a zoning dispute between Canterbury-Bankstown council and developer Trevenar Pty Limited, which has taken it to the Land and Environment Court.

The centrepiece of the dispute is 30 Trevenar St, Ashbury, a 6700 sqm site at the southwest of the Ashbury Peace Park, one of the largest open spaces in the area complete with an off-leash dog park and viewing tower.

Council wants to rezone the land to be consistent with the rest of the park — RE1, public recreation — while the developer has a proposal to subdivide it into seven lots.

The parcel of land itself is a historical oddity. It was formerly the home of Ashbury Brickyard, and converted to the Peace Park between 1988 and its opening in 1993. While most of the site was transferred over to the former Canterbury Council, 30 Trevenar Street was not.

Instead, that site was given to a state-owned electricity provider by the NSW Government, which would become Ausgrid after the privatisation of NSW’s electricity infrastructure.

The site on 30 Trevenar Street, Ashbury, is surrounded by the Ashbury Peace Park, with many residents mistaking it as being part of the park.

A local resident group, Protect Our Peace Park, has been fighting the development proposal, and held a rally on April 30 in support of rezoning the land as recreational, and for the land to remain publicly accessible.

At that rally, Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour said: “I am going to stop, block, try my best along with the councillors present and the council body to stop this from happening, but at the end of the day, this can be fixed by the flick of a pen by the state government and I think we need to put pressure on the state government to do this.”

The Ashbury Peace Park was built on the former lands of the Ashbury Brickyard, and is one of the highest points in the suburb.

Canterbury-Bankstown Council has confirmed to NewsLocal it has written to the NSW Government, calling on them to purchase the land and return it back to the community.

Luke Buckle poses with his kids Darcy Buckle (8), Gracie Buckle (10), Azalea Buckle (5) at Ashbury Peace Park in 2018.

Since May 2021, Canterbury-Bankstown council has made its intentions to zone the site as recreational known, including informing Ausgrid’s real estate agent of council’s plans for the site, prior to its sale.

At the time, Mr Asfour said: “If Ausgrid genuinely does not require this site, it should hand it over to the community of Ashbury to enjoy as open space.”

Barbara Coorey, an independent councillor at Canterbury-Bankstown Council said: “The purchaser was put on notice prior to buying this land during the Covid lockdown that council was going to rezone it to open space recreation.

“He cannot cry poor now after the event.”

The Protect Our Peace Park group agrees, with a spokesman saying: “Not only is the block situated at the bottom of a hill, subject to frequent flooding and often waterlogged thus unsuitable for building upon, this land was given to Ausgrid by the state government, and now they have sold it off in a blatant cash grab.

“We can’t allow housing to be built on what should be open space for the community.”

NewsLocal asked the Department of Planning and Environment if it was aware of community opposition to the development, whether it would intervene to rezone the land as RE1, and whether it has any plans on purchasing the land back.

A spokesman from the Department of Planning and Environment responded: “A council-initiated planning proposal to rezone the site at 30 Trevenar Street, Ashbury, was publicly exhibited between 23 March and 22 April 2022. This rezoning has not yet been finalised.

“The developer who purchased the land is currently involved in court proceedings with City of Canterbury-Bankstown Council regarding a DA for the subdivision of the site into residential lots.

“Any future purchase of the land will be up to the council to consider.”