Melinda Pavey’s office steps in over suburban bushland fight

Water Minister Melinda Pavey’s office has intervened in a stink over a plan to put an industrial-sized odour control unit in the middle of a much-loved bushwalking track in Sydney’s inner suburbs.

Sydney Water’s proposal to place the infrastructure at the Two Valley Trail in Wolli Creek has drawn the ire of three local councils and four state Labor MPs, who are urging the authority to move it elsewhere.

Wolli Creek Preservation Society president Gina Svolos wants the proposed odour control unit relocated.Credit: Louie Douvis

The proposed location of the odour control unit also jeopardises long-term plans for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to finish the nearby Wolli Creek Regional Park by extending it east to Unwin Street, where the trail begins.

Wolli Creek Preservation Society president Gina Svolos said the sliver of bushland and sandstone rock faces was treasured by the local community and that, as a result of the pandemic, its use had dramatically increased.

“For me its always been that I feel like I’m in the middle of the bush when I’m in the city,” Ms Svolos said, adding it was a special area to walk through. “There’s really nothing like it in that part of Sydney … I don’t know anywhere else.”

Fellow campaigner Peter Stevens said the community had urged Sydney Water to relocate the piece of infrastructure to an adjacent piece of land outside the planned park boundary and acquire a nearby home if necessary.

“If they do their site, they cut into the rock wall, they destroy bushland, and they destroy the chances of the Regional Park being completed,” he said, adding walkers would have to be diverted around the unit.

An artist’s impression of the proposed odour control unit.

“It’s not ever going to be reversible, we can never go back because it will destroy something that can never be restored.”

The unit is critical infrastructure that extracts and treats gases, safeguards the wastewater network from corrosion and improves air quality by reducing odour-related issues for customers.

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A spokesperson for Sydney Water said the authority was committed to keeping the community informed.

“We have consulted with numerous stakeholders over several years, during the REF [review of environmental factors] process, on planning and concept design, including the local council, Wolli Creek Preservation Society and the National Parks and Wildlife Service,” the spokesperson said.

A Sydney Water report said land ownership, environmental impacts, design and operational considerations, accessibility, and the ability of the unit to minimise odour issues were factors in its location.

A spokesperson for Ms Pavey said the minister’s office had asked Sydney Water to consider alternatives within the authority’s property.

“During this phase, other locations on land owned by Sydney Water for the odour control unit are being investigated,” the spokesperson said.

There are areas of pristine bushland along Wolli Creek.Credit: Dean Sewell

“The aim is to reduce the odour control unit impact and balance operational requirements for this asset with the needs of the environment and local community.”

But Mr Stevens questioned the appropriateness of Sydney Water reviewing the location, given it was both the proponent and assessor of the plans. The Sydney Water spokesperson said the entity was governed by strict laws and regulations and overseen by two separate independent umpires.

Ms Pavey’s interjection followed a sustained local campaign, a petition collecting thousands of signatures and a protest outside NSW Parliament earlier this year.

Canterbury-Bankstown, Bayside and Inner West councils also separately voted to write to Ms Pavey over the location of the unit, and to Environment Minister Matt Kean to urge him to expedite the completion of the Wolli Creek Regional Park, which had been announced back in 1998.

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns, Rockdale MP Steve Kamper, Canterbury MP Sophie Cotsis and Summer Hill MP Jo Haylen are also backing the community’s campaign to move the unit.