Barangaroo’s enemies make new friends

Another voice has been added to the chorus of opposition to the Barangaroo development with the formation of a new community group, the Friends of Barangaroo.

But tensions have emerged amongst those opposing the development amidst confusion as to whether the new organisation will simply be a subcommittee of the existing Barangaroo Action Group.

Launched last Friday by City of Sydney councillors Marcelle Hoff and John McInerney, the group aims to foster a grassroots movement opposing overdevelopment and pushing for greater transparency around Sydney’s biggest urban redesign.

“We need the state government to hear how unhappy the general community is about handing over large chunks of Sydney’s harbour to developers,” said Cr Hoff.

“I’ve been told by so many people that they want the height and floor areas of the site reduced and they don’t want a pier and hotel built in the harbour.”

The first action of the group will be to hold a protest rally at the site of the development at Hickson road on June 19.

But the decision to create the group has sparked some tension with the Barangaroo Action Group (BAG) initially opposing the idea.

“The BAG was initially hostile to the idea because people were concerned that it would cause confusion with there being another group campaigning around the issue,” said Greens councillor Irene Doutney.

President of the BAG, Ian Campbell downplayed the tension, saying the Friends of Barangaroo would be a “community engagement subcommittee” of the BAG.

But Cr Hoff stressed that the organisations would be entirely separate.

“The Barangaroo Action Group have been incredibly proactive in engaging with planners, with architects and certainly with the big end of town they’re doing a great job.”

“But The Friends of Barangaroo is a grass roots initiative which has come from community members who have let me know loud and clear that they also want to be represented.”

Cr John McInerney, who jointly launched the new group along with Cr Hoff, said the initial tensions with the BAG have been resolved.

“There was a thought initially in the BAG that there was some attempt by politicians to take over through a parallel group.”

“But really the Friends are about canvassing a whole lot of the community that might not necessarily have been involved with the BAG, to lobby their representatives about whether the Barangaroo development is a good idea.”

Cr McInerny said the best outcome for the site would be if the development occurred on the basis of the initial Hill Thalis concept plan approved by the City of Sydney.

North Sydney Mayor Genia McCaffery also expressed her support for the Friends of Barangaroo, raising concerns about the transparency of the development.

“These large significant developments must go through the proper public process, this is absolutely vital in the case of Barangaroo.”

“Proper planning processes must occur and must be transparent.”

Cr. Hoff said the new group also had the support of Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore.

“She appreciates that there are people who wanted to be represented from the outside, in addition to the work she’s doing inside the BDA.”

The Barangaroo development has been the sources of controversy for the Lord Mayor who is on the board of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority charged with managing the development.

Several City of Sydney councillors have said she should resign from the Delivery Authority board so she can better represent the council’s concerns about the project.