We have received the following response from the Premier and the Hon. Gabrielle Upton:

Council has resolved to Heritage list this property.

We have received the following response from the Premier and the Hon. Gabrielle Upton”

Willoughby GM – Debra Just

It is reported in the North Shore Times that Council’s General Manager, Ms Debra Just’s contract has been renewed with a pay increase from $340,000 to nearly $400,000 p.a.

Lane Cove’s GM earns  $285,000. Kuringgai’s GM earns $292,000. Clr. Saville opposed the renewal of the contract on the basis that the increase was more than the CPI and because the approval was given behind closed doors.

Clr Coppock argued that the Local Government Act requires the appointment of any Council staff must be and open and transparent process. Further it is reported that he believed the general manager did not deserve to continue in her role. He cited issues with openness and transparency under her watch. Clr. Coppock also feltthat the GMs management style was a bad for for Willoughby.

The GMs contract was due to expire in February 2019. Evidently the GM had requested a new contract. One can only surmise as to why.

Councillors voted 10 to 2 to renew the GM’s contract.

After representations from CWWPA, Clr Saville has submitted the following to Council:

I submit the following question for council papers regarding the Pacific Highway traffic between Fullers and Albert Avenue:

 

It is noted that the RMS have advised that their priorities are pedestrian safety and keeping the traffic moving on the highway

 

Is council aware  of the safety issues associated with the intersection of Albert Ave, Highway and Centennial Ave, and  that there have been numerous MVAs and complaints from residents for years about this intersection?

 

How can council, representing residents   work more closely with the RMS  to improve safety at these intersections?

 

Can council approach the RMS to clearly explain if and how they propose to address the safety issues at these intersections?

 

How can safety be improved, particularly regarding vehicles turning right from Albert continuing through the Centennial intersection against a red light when vehicles are exiting right from Centennial and also traffic heading towards the Sydney often red light running at Centennial and Albert?

If you were among the hundreds of people left without water for many hours last weekend, we thought you might be interested in the response we got from Sydney Water.

First off, they were effusive in their apology for leaving us without water for so long. There were multiple complexities throughout the night.

We were told there would be a small rebate as the outage had exceeded a threshold (watch your bill).

We were advised that if you have an urgent need for water during an outage to contact them and they will try and come to your assistance.

We were advised that the best way to see what is going on is to use their website (details later). We explained that on the night the time of expected completion for some jobs was not being updated (so we had no idea when supply would be resumed). Their excuse was that they are reliant on the field workers to update the support centre and that often the workers feel it is more important to keep working rather than keeping people informed  (welcome comments on that one).

Also advised that you can ring. On the night, there were reports on social media that people who rang in received more information than what was on the website.

So, here is how you can communicate and get information (and water?) from Sydney Water.

The general number to report a leak (or to get updates) is:

13 20 90

Or you can use https://www.sydneywater.com.au/SW/water-the-environment/what-you-can-do/report-a-leak/index.htm or from here REPORT A LEAK

Their website to check the status of supply in your area is: https://www.sydneywater.com.au/SW/water-the-environment/how-we-manage-sydney-s-water/water-supply-service-updates/index.htm or CHECK SUPPLY STATUS

Sydney Water are also trialing a new system where they are sending out alerts when supply is interrupted. This is only available in their western area at the moment, but you can register at: https://www.sydneywater.com.au/SW/water-the-environment/what-you-can-do/register-for-water-outage-alerts/index.htm or REGISTER FOR ALERTS

We trusts this assists.

Further to our recent motion relating to cutbacks of National Parks personnel, a member has provided links to information on this matter.

PARK WATCH FACEBOOK PAGE

What’s gone wrong with our National Parks

Evidently, of the letters of reply to people writing about the restructure a common reassurance is that there will be 119 new front-line positions.

What the NPWS doesn’t say is

•  how many jobs have been cut over successive years to create these “new” positions
• these are base grade jobs for Field Officer General Operations (fogo’s) for which the only job requirement is a drivers licence.
• The so called middle managers to lose their jobs are people with decades of experience. These are the people who liaise with the RFS re fire mitigations and suppression, liaise with e community on management issues, are generally involved in incident management, search and rescue/ marine mammal rescue inter alia. They have until recently usually come from a ranger background with graduate qualifications.

 Further the Office of Environment and Heritage does not produce an Annual Report that reports specifically on NPWs staff numbers and budgets so it is not possible to make any assessment of accountability over time.

From 30 September 2018, STATION LINK (formally known as the Epping to Chatswood Temporary Transport Plan) services will keep customers moving while the rail line between Epping and Chatswood is upgraded for around seven months, ahead of Sydney Metro opening in 2019.

 Key features of Station Link include:

• High frequency, turn-up-and-go services to stations between Epping and Chatswood at least every six minutes during the peak.
• More than 120 new, fully accessible, air conditioned buses
• More than 110 services per hour in the busiest parts of the day.
• A dedicated high frequency service to Macquarie University Campus from Epping Station.
• A loop service running at least every 10 minutes 7 days a week to all stations between Epping to Chatswood.

What we have not seen is any bus management plan for the area around Chatswood station where there will be nearly two buses per minute looking to setdown/pickup and layover.

Visit mysydney.nsw.gov.au/StationLink to learn more about the project.

Flexible Learning Space

According to the Greater Sydney Commission, schools will be forced to develop “innovative ways” to cater for thousands of new students on the north shore as the State Government plans for a major overhaul of existing buildings. The Greater Sydney Commission last week released its finalised North District Plan, a 20-year road map to cope with population increases on the North Shore.

It is estimated that an extra 21,900 students will need to be accommodated in public and private schools in the North District by 2036. However, the report did not reveal how many extra schools would be required to meet this demand but it “encourages the joint and shared use of school facilities” with councils and the private sector to “develop innovative ways to provide school infrastructure” such as becoming ‘community hubs’. There is also the likelihood of the use of ‘flexible learning spaces’ where large groups of students use technology to learn under the supervision of teachers (but with higher student to teacher ratios).

The North District Plan is part of a broader 40-year vision for Greater Sydney, where most residents would live within 30 minutes of their jobs, education and health facilities.

Anticipating the growth in student numbers across Willoughby, the Chatswood West Ward Progress Association and the Federation of Willoughby Progress Association have been advocating for the establishment of an innovative school on the current ‘Dive Site’ of the Sydney Metro South at the corner of Mowbray Rd and the Pacific Highway when the Metro is completed.

Source: Matt Taylor, Schools under pressure in population boom. Calls for high-rise campuses as plan forecasts drastic rise in lower north shore population, North Shore Times, Friday 5 April 2018, p.4

Chatswood in a few months?

Whilst some say that the closure of the Epping to Chatswood rail line is “imminent”,eight months after the closure announcement the government still has not announced a closure date. According to the Premier it is imminent.

Buses will replace trains between Chatswood and Epping for many months turning Chatswood into one great bus layover.

READ NST STORY

The Northern SYDNEY Region Organisation of Councils (this includes Willoughby Council) has released a review of sports grounds.

Forecasts show that Councils will need to increase capacity by 40% by 2036 to cope with demand.

Users will know that we are already under pressure. Council is striving to come up with ideas and collaboration to meet demand.

READ THE FULL REPORT