Berwick Lane closure rouses residents

Residents have slammed City of Sydney Council plans to permanently close Berwick Lane, which runs between Bourke Street and Palmer Street in Darlinghurst.
Councillors will vote on a recommendation to close the lane later this month. Council bought the Cancer Clinic building to develop a childcare centre last year.
Council’s plan to join together the Frances Newton Preschool with the new childcare centre and have recommended permanent closure of the lane for ‘safety reasons’.
“The temporary closure of Berwick Lane to both cars and pedestrians is essential, for the safety of preschool children who will attend this childcare centre,” said a spokesperson from City of Sydney Council.
Street sex workers often use the lane and Councillor Di Tornai suggested at a committee meeting last month the lane needed to be closed to prevent drug-users and street sex workers from travelling near the childcare.
Residents near the lane have criticised the Council over hypocrisy after they made no objection to a development application for a street sex-worker support centre opposite the Frances Newtown Preschool.
Darlinghurst resident Lyn Balzer said prostitutes used Berwick Lane to shoot up and if the lane is closed then the sex-workers will move to outside the homes of Palmer Street where the council is installing lights.
“Wherever the lights are they’ll shoot up,” she said.
Residents fighting the closure said they felt isolated because their local member, Clover Moore, holds the position of Lord Mayor and has a conflict of interest.
Ms Balzer said Council’s response to the community’s objections were  nothing more than meaningless pats on the shoulder.
“We don’t really have any way of talking to any objective figure about this,” she said.
Jane Anderson, member of East Sydney Neighborhood Association, said Council’s talk of catering for pedestrians and cyclists is hypocritical as the closure of the lane will cause those living on Palmer Street to be cut off from Bourke Street.
“This council needs to make its mind up what this council wants; it’s certainly not pedestrian friendly.”
City of Sydney Council said a pedestrian traffic study was conducted and found a low level of movement through the lane.
Ms Balzer said the closure of the 19th century lane will be a loss to the area’s image and heritage.
“It’s a bigger issue than just for the residents here, it’s about heritage,” she said.
“They’re fabulous sandstone stairs, literally a heritage lane.”
City of Sydney said they consulted a heritage expert and concluded the closure of the lane could be done with minimal impact on the heritage of the site.