Everything you didn’t want to know about WestConnex

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The plan

The State and Federal Governments are proposing spending $15 billion dollars (more than $3,000 for every man, woman and child in Sydney) extending the M4 and M5.  They are doing this based on a business plan that contains no hard numbers on traffic volumes. Simply to pay the interest on that much money would require half a million vehicles a day to use the new tunnels – more than double the patronage of the current M4 and M5 combined.

From 2019 and 2023, at least, the M5 extension is to end at Sydney Park – as if the surrounding roads were not already at capacity. No modelling on the impact of the additional traffic has been released. There will be widening of the roads immediately next to the park, at the cost of up to 80 houses and a good chunk of Sydney Park, but not the roads they feed.

The government appears to have dismissed public transport out of hand, even though kilometres driven per person are falling, while usage of public transport, cycling and walking are all increasing.

There is no information about where the exhaust stacks will be, or whether they will be filtered.

Sample letters

We encourage you to write to your local MPs, and to one or all of the State Upper House crossbench MPs who hold the balance of power [Click here for contact details].

We don’t want to encourage form letters. Any letter is better than no letter, but a short letter saying what your personal concerns are is is worth more than a long form letter.

To help inspire you in writing your own letter, here are some letters that people have been sending:

Upcoming events

WestConnex Development Authority have upcoming information sessions at:

  • Saturday 22 November, 10am to 1pm
    Unit B2, 238 Princes Highway, St Peters
    St Peters Town Hall (upstairs)
  • Tuesday 25 November, 10am to 12pm
    and 4.30pm to 7.30pm
    39 Unwins Bridge Road, Sydenham

There are a number of rallies planned. This is not an exhaustive list:

  • Stand up for Sydney!: WestConnex, Planning, Towers, Bay Precinct, CSG, etc.
    27th November, 12:00, in the Domain near Parliament house
  • WestConnex Community Day of Action
    “A fun day for all opposed to WestCONnex: action groups, residents, concerned friends from all over Sydney to come together. Planned in partnership with our friends at Reclaim The Streets Sydney”
     13th December, 13:00, Simpson park, Campbell street, St Peters

Action Groups

Reference Documents

CSG – the NSW Chief Scientist’s report

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For those with an interest in Coal Seam Gas, Stop CSG Sydney will be looking at the NSW Chief Scientist’s report into CSG, and what it means for their campaign:

Sunday November 30, 3-5 pm
Seaview Community Hall, Seaview Street, Dulwich Hill.

The NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer released her much anticipated report in October. The Coal Seam Gas industry says it give it a ‘green light’ for increased CSG production. Activists point to the report’s warning of ‘unintended consequences’.

Dr Stuart Khan, from the University of New South Wales, who contributed to the report’s findings on the management and risks associated with produced water from CSG mining, will be the forum’s guest speaker.
Dr Khan, who was also an expert reviewer of the final report, will present his perspective and its implications for the CSG industry and affected communities.

For more information, contact Elle on 0414 540 591

Glow in the Park

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916776_thumbnail_280_Glow_In_The_Park_An_Event_By_Alexandria_Vet.v1On Saturday 22nd November, Alexandria Vet is hosting the annual “Glow in the Park” in Alexandria park. Glow in the Park is a charity event that raises money for Fetching Dogs (a dog re-homing charity).
The aim is for owners to bring their dogs and dress them up in glow / lights. There will be glow items for sale for pets (and kids) professional pet-Santa photos by Fuzzy Beast (a pet photography business in Alexandria), a bbq, prizes for best dressed, a raffle and 80s music. It goes from 6.30pm to 9-9.30 pm. Kids and families without a dog are welcome to come along.

100,000 extra cars? Community meeting.

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WestConnex are planning to extend the M5 to Sydney Park, next to the border between St Peters and Alexandria. The new 6 lane tollway could put 100,000+ extra cars into our streets every day – as if they weren’t already close to gridlocked much of the time.

Alexandria Residents group will be discussing how we can respond as a community , at:

  • Alexandria Town Hall, 73 Garden St
  • 7:00pm, Wednesday the 12th of November

Everyone with an interest in preserving the suburbs we live in is invited to attend.

Guest Speakers:

  • Mehreen Faruqi, Greens Transport spokesperson
  • Matthew Hounsell, EcoTransit Co-Convenor

Hope to see you there. Please help spread the word.

August meeting notes

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As discussed at our last meeting:

Central to Eveleigh Feedback

The meeting collected comments on Central to Eveleigh redevelopment proposals. These will be submitted to Urban Growth along with feedback from Vanessa Knight and Gary Speechly who attended an information session in June.

Please send any additional comments to info@arag.org.au.

Extra votes for business owners

ARAG has sent a letter to the premier in objection to legislation proposed by Shooters and Fishers Party that seeks to give more votes to people who own businesses than to other people.  (If you wish to send your own objection, we have uploaded a template for a draft objection letter that may be posted or submitted online.)

BPN Planning for People Charter

ARAG is now a signatory to the BPN Planning for People Charter.

See also the explanatory note.

Alexandria Scouts

There will be a public meeting in support of reopening Alexandria Scout Hall at:

3-4pm, Saturday 23 August
Australian Technology Park, Bay 8, Room 6b.

Central to Eveleigh Corridor to be discussed at our August Meeting

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The ARAG meeting to be held on Wednesday the 13th, at the usual time and place of 7PM at Alexandria Town Hall, will be on the proposed redevelopment of the ‘Central to Eveleigh Corridor’ – basically, everything along the railway lines from Goulburn Street car park in the CBD to Macdonaldtown rail station, including Central and Redfern stations, the Australian Technology Park, and Eveleigh Rail Yards.

This is an opportunity to have your say on the impact of the concept plan on: Australian Technology Park (ATP), Sustainability, Connections & Transport, Heritage & Culture, Public Spaces & Social Facilities, and Housing and Employment.

ARAG’s Annual General Meeting

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No – don’t run away!!!

The 2014 Annual General Meeting of ARAG will be held on Wednesday 9th July 2014 prior to our regular monthly meeting. The AGM will commence at 7:00 pm.

The current Executive Committee is:

 Convenor Ben Aveling
 Co-Convenor Vanessa Knight
Secretary  Yvonne Cowell
Treasurer Gary Speechley
Working Groups Vanessa Knight

Additionally, Gary Speechley is the Public Officer, the person responsible for liaison between ARAG and Fair Trading NSW.

We are seeking new members to join the committee and would welcome your consideration of offering your experience and enthusiasm.

Financial and other reports also will be presented at the AGM.

Secondary Education Forum

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The City of Sydney is partnering with the NSW Department of Education and Communities and hosting a forum on Tuesday 3 June at Alexandria Park Community School in the school hall between 6.30pm and 8.30pm.
The Forum is on Public Secondary Education in the Inner Sydney area.
If you have children or plan to have children – you need to be there!
This is your opportunity to have your say and learn about how the Department plans for high schools, raise your concerns and contribute your ideas.
Some of the things that need to be considered:
  • Alexandria families will be facing the added pressure of increasing numbers of children from the Ashmore Estate (6,000+ more people) and other developments including whatever comes from the Central to Eveleigh corridor concept.  We must make sure there is good and informed planning for this growth in education demand – and it needs to start now!
  • We need to protect the Alexandria Park School from any attempts to sell land to make a quick buck – that’s how the Department of Education got into this mess with short term thinking.
  • We need to nurture the growing success of the Alexandria Park Community School – did you know that the school is ranked in the top 200 of all schools in NSW (public and private)?
  • We need to ensure the Alexandria Park Community School is maintained adequately.
Some background information:

Don’t just hope that it will all work out in the end – no-one cares about the future of your kids more than you!

RSVP online.
If you can’t attend, there is another meeting on Thursday 5 June, at Sydney Secondary College Blackwattle Campus, and there is a website where you can leave feedback – http://dec.engagementhq.com/consultation.
Thanks and regards
Vanessa Knight
Alexandria Residents Action Group

It was fabulous. We have lost property.

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The fair is over. Thanks to all who attended, we hope you had a good time.

We’re still dealing with paperwork, trying to get prizes to raffle winners, sorting photos.

In the meantime, we have lost property:

  • one pair of glasses, frames are black at the front, with tortoise shell arms.
  • one black hat

If either of these might be yours, please email us at info at arag.org.au.