It appears that there is no relief in sight for Chatswood. More high-rise will be the order of the day.

As part of its ‘Reshaping the West’ strategy, the O’Farrell Government is hell-bent on pushing more and more high-rise away from the eastern parts of Sydney.

Prior to its election, the O’Farrell government was touting pushing more population outside of Sydney. There was talk of a 60/40 split, with the lion’s share going to country areas.This has failed to materialise.

Soon to be unveiled plans for areas along the North West Rail LInk will reveal plans for buildings up to 30 stories along the rail corridor from Epping to Rouse Hill (Chatswood already has 40+ storey buildings).  At the same time it appears that the eastern suburbs of Sydney will not be expected to house as many residents as previously proposed.

So where does this leave Chatswood?

Inspiration: SMH 8 April 2014 p.8 ‘Hazzard looks west for high-rise plans’

The role of the Mayor is interesting, particularly as we head to the by-election. Under the Local Government Act 1993,the role of the Mayor is:

• to carry out the civic and ceremonial functions of the mayoral office

• to preside at meetings of the council

• to exercise, in cases of necessity, the policy-making functions of the governing body of the council between meetings of the council

• to exercise such other functions of the council as the council determine

So, the Mayor can wear the red gown and put on the chains to attend numerous community events. In some Council areas, this is no longer the case with Mayors arguing the need to update the look of the Mayor. The Mayor chairs Council meetings, but they are only one vote in thirteen. So decision power does not rest with the Mayor. Rather it is the Councilors who wield the power. The only time this is not the case is when Council is in recess (such as over Christmas and for the traditional mid-year break). The other functions they exercise are at the direction of Councilors. At a meeting, a Mayor can ‘bring down’ a Mayoral Minute. However, it is the Councilors who make the decision. Not the Mayor!

Over the past couple of decades when Emeritus Mayor Reilly was Mayor, he had won the position with convincing majorities and could claim he was acting on the ‘will of the people’. Willoughby’s next Mayor is unlikely to gain such a clear majority. In fact it is being suggested that the new Mayor is likely to be elected with just 20-30% of the vote.

Hardly a mandate!

Vale the power of the Mayor.

Car crash Chatswood

The Willoughby Crash Analysis Report is based on data covering the 4-year period 2008 to 2012. The aim of the report is to use the data contained within it to develop an Action Plan for 2013-17 (We are already well into 2014 – Ed.)

The report summary identified three aspects of crashes in Willoughby:

• there were 2 fatal crashes in 2012 c.f nil in 2010 and 2011
• injury and tw-away crashes reduced c.f 2011
• in 2012,15.5% of casualties were pedestrian c.f Sydney Metro’s 10.0%

The detailed report contains some interesting statistics.

• 0nly 18% of Willoughby’s workers live in Willoughby
• Willoughby drivers accounted for the largest number of crashes (15%) with Warringah (8%) Ryde (6%)

The population profile contains an interesting statistic. That is that the percentage of Chinese-born residents is a mere 7.0%.

Compared to Greater Sydney, Willoughby has more households with nil or 1 motor vehicles but less households with 2 or 3+ vehicles.

The number of casualties has been progressively declining since peaking around 2000. Though not stated, it is assumed that one cause of the  reductions may be as a result of targeted road safety plans over the past years.

There is not a significant difference between casualty type (driver, passenger, motorcycle, cycle, pedestrian) between Willoughby, Sydney and NSW.

Speed related crashes in Willoughby are slightly less than for Sydney and well below the State average (influenced by country roads).

Just over 25% of speed related crashes were on local streets the rest being on Regional or State roads which are under the control of the RMS.

The local streets with the worst crash history was the intersection of Herbert/Ella (11) other locations with 2 or 3 crashes where Barcoo/Barambah; Dalleys/Northcote; Deepwater/Castlecove ;Hampden/McMillan; Johnston/Victor and Warrane/McClelland.

There is a wealth of other information in the  2014 Crash Analysis Report

This re-announced proposal to connect the M1 (Sydney to Newcastle) to the M2 (into city via Lane Cove Tunnel) will by-pass busy Pennant Hills Rd. Whilst partly funded by Federal money, it has the potential to drain NSW of funds.

The history of long tunnels in the northern suburbs is replete with underbid contracts announced at politically convenient times: the sewer storage tunnel, the Chatswood to Parramatta rail line, the Lane Cove and M2 tunnels.  All these roughly doubled in price once construction was underway and roughly doubled again by completion.

The present stated cost is $ 2.7B for 9 kilometres of double three lane tunnels. So this could be closer to $12B by the time work is complete.

Whilst the tunnel is being built with 3 lanes each way, it appears that 2 of those lanes are ‘breakdown’ lanes and cannot be used for additional traffic (even in the future).

A further weakness of the proposal is the failure to include ramps to the Sydney side of the M2 motorway, which would require another couple of kilometres of branch tunnels, at an extra cost of the order $ 200 million.

There are unresolved issues on the location of exhaust stacks; the cost of ventilation tunnels to the stacks and particle filters (apparently omitted). Fire escape exits to the surface are to be provided at less than half kilometres spacing. The range of dangerous goods excluded from the tunnel needs expansion for long tunnels (two European long tunnels were closed for months after truck-loads of used tyres and butter caught fire).

As always, the customer pays! The occasional motorist may be willing to pay $ 6.11 toll, and has the alternative of the  surface Pennant Hills Road, with half the present volume of trucks. The Premier’s plan to force some trucks into the tunnels with a toll of $ 18.32 for trucks is problematic.

Finally, there  is no calculation of the Benefit /Cost  Ratio, which was so far below 1.0 that Infrastructure Australia refused to support Federal  funding. They have been over-ruled by politicians, and their senior staff changed. Barry O’Farrell has claimed twelve minutes time saved in each direction. In the present announcement, the number of truck trips benefiting has been “increased up” from 7,000 to10,000 truck trips per day, with a total capacity of 100,000 vehicles per day, the 10,000 trucks would pay $183,000 per day and 90,000 cars would  pay  $ 550,000 per day. Truckies could expect their small contribution to tunnel revenue to be increased if car usage is below forecast.

Assuming these revenues are achieved 365 days a year the annual revenue would be $267.5 million, which happens to be 10% of the intended construction costs.  The Lane Cove  Tunnel demonstrated that running expenditure will absorb most of the revenue, making interest free gifts of taxpayer funds necessary. The Roads Minister Mr. Gay needs to provide the correct calculations for the Benefit/Cost ratio.  By comparison, the RTA estimate of the B3 route Benefit/cost ratio was 4.1 !

JimMcCredie

Here is Jim McCredie’s column from the Autumn 2014 edition of the West Ward News:

By Jim McCredie

The State Coalition Government gave an election promise not to amalgamate Councils against their will. However, the NSW Planning Department is generating top-down plans. Sydney has been divided into sub-regions that will become the de facto planning commissariats. Willoughby will become a northern appendage to a City and Eastern Sub-region, a small fish in a big pond.  Our new sub-region extends south to Port Botany and Enfield Logistics Centre, and west to Macquarie Park and Rhodes. Improvements to Willoughby will be difficult for our new Mayor and the Council to achieve. Indeed, it may be that money will be sucked out of Chatswood by extension of taxes such as the State Parking Levy.

Affordable housing and seniors’ housing: Housing affordability in Sydney is the world’s fourth worst, with median house prices about nine times median wages. The Regional Plan proposed that the draft Willoughby LEP Plan allow developers added gross floor area for providing affordable housing. Unfortunately, developers have avoided including affordable units, instead offering Councils “Voluntary Planning Agreements” i.e. money to be spent on other types of community projects.

Road and public transport connections: The NSW 20 year Master Plan for Transport includes the North West Rail Link, the Westconnex motorway, and the M1 to M2 road tunnels, but nothing to relieve Pacific Highway traffic through Chatswood. (Plans for additional rail capacity between Chatswood and Sydney are urgent, but not yet publicly released).

Grow the Economy:  Chatswood was planned to be the primary office-based hub of northern Sydney providing capacity for at least 8,000 new jobs by 2031, Instead, all development sites within the core, zoned by Council for necessary new office buildings, have been given spot approval for residential non-office uses by state authorities.

The Progress Associations in Willoughby, including Chatswood West Ward, have joined forces with the Better Planning Network to oppose the new planning legislation. Residents with concerns about Planning Minister Brad Hazzard’s State planning can contact betterplanningnetwork@gmail.com

Jim Mcredie, President

The following questions were posed by a local resident. Reply comments are at the end of the questions.

We are concerned about the lack of cooperation from the company over clearing the rubbish on the site.  We were told that the council and said the Fed Govt still owned it (?).

‘Boronia‘, the Willoughby Museum is located at 58 Johnson Street, Chatswood.’Boronia’ is a modest cottage that is representative of the Federation era. The cottage is also the headquarters of the Willoughby District Historical Society. (WDHS)

The property was bequeathed to the Society in 1988 by Sonya Kirkham, a WDHS member who was tragically killed in a car accident in 1988. It lies within the South Willoughby Conservation Area, one of 12 in Willoughby City that have been established to protect Willoughby’s heritage and make sure that new development does not detract from the streetscape, landscape and character of the city.

There is a variety of activities available during Heritage Week.

3 April-21 April – Willoughby Journeys – Heritage Photo Competition

6 April – Gore Hill Cemetery Guided Tour

10 April-30 June – Frank Channon – From Willoughby to the World War I battlefront and back

13 April – Gore Hill Cemetery Guided Tour

13 April – Bushwalk – Has your heritage gone to waste?

14 April – Heritage Talk – Lancelot DeMole CBE, Inventor of the Military Tank

14 April-26 May – Keeping Place and Museum

17 April-26 May – A Hospital Journey from 1888 to 2014

20 April – Gore Hill Cemetery Guided Tour

21 April – Coming to Willoughby

27 April – Gore Hill Cemetery Guided Tour

30 April-31 May – Journeys to Artarmon

3 May – The Griffins’ Journeys – America, Australia and India

4 May – Gore Hill Cemetery Guided Tour

11 May – A Journey through Time and Space

11 May – Gore Hill Cemetery Guided Tour

18 May – Gore Hill Cemetery Guided Tour

25 May – Gore Hill Cemetery Guided Tour

Finally, after many years waiting, Woolworths has finally found a foothold in Chatswood.

Until now, Coles has had the upper hand in supermarkets in Chatswood with stores at the Chase and at Westfields.

For years, Woolworths have been trying to find a suitable site for a store. They have bought land (the old Holden Service Centre) in East Chatswood. However, that site is not zoned for a supermarket.

Typically, a large supermarket requires around 10,000 sm. Unfortunately, the Supermarket store to open at the Chatswood Interchange is a mere 2,000sm.

Some competition is better than nothing.