Save Rosny Parks speaks out against affordable housing proposed for Charles Hand Park

A residents’ group has voiced its dismay at a suggestion that local parkland could be rezoned for affordable housing, prompting a fiery response from the mayor.

Charles Hand Memorial Park at Rosny. Picture: Chris Kidd

A Clarence residents’ group has voiced its dismay at the proposed rezoning of a section of parkland for affordable housing but Mayor Brendan Blomeley says the council “won’t be held to ransom by the usual anti-development activists”.

Save Rosny Parks, which rose to prominence as a vocal critic of the failed plan to build an AFL high performance centre across the Rosny Parklands and Charles Hand Park, has now shifted its focus to the Clarence City Council’s draft City Heart Plan.

The latest round of community consultation for the plan was recently concluded and council officers will now prepare a summary of the findings for elected members before a final version of the plan is developed.

The document outlines a vision for the “heart” of Clarence, which encompasses areas including Rosny, Kangaroo Bay, and Warrane.

It sets out a strategy to make central Clarence “a welcoming and vibrant place to work, live and play” in the future.

Part of the draft plan includes a proposal to “explore opportunities” for the development of affordable and key worker housing on the western side of Charles Hand Park, which is located immediately to the north of Rosny College.

Charles Hand Memorial Park at Rosny. Picture: Chris Kidd

Save Rosny Parks spokesman Brian Chapman said the group was not opposed to new affordable housing being built in Clarence but that Charles Hand Park was not the place for it.

“It’s open space and open space should remain as open space. Once it’s gone, it’s hard to get it back. That’s it in a nutshell,” he said.

“Most of the plan is brilliant. It’s actually a very good document and very proactive and it’s been put together in an excellent way. The main issue is pinching open space to [build] housing is just not on. It’s quite simple.”

Clarence Mayor Brendan Blomeley said the community had expressed “strong” support for the proposal to build housing in Charles Hand Park but his deputy, Ms Ritchie, said other sites would be more suitable.

Clarence Mayor Brendan Blomeley. Picture: Chris Kidd

“I’ve got very strong views about Charles Hand Park, that it should be untouched and remain open to the community in the size and shape that it currently is,” she said.

“We’d like to see some more sorts of townhouse developments in the Rosny CBD … but Charles Hand Park is a unique piece of public open space.”

Mr Blomeley said the council would consider whether the concept of key worker housing at the park needed to be amended if “community sentiment … has changed since we last presented the plan”.

“However, from my perspective, we need to stop spinning our wheels. Clarence is one of the fastest growing municipalities in the state, and to stand still or allow ourselves to be held to ransom by the usual anti-development activists is not an option. And, frankly, it would be an abrogation of our responsibility,” he said.

Originally published as Save Rosny Parks speaks out against affordable housing proposed for Charles Hand Park