Callan Park Master Plan still under review

The approval process for the Callan Park Master Plan continues to drag on ten months after Leichhardt Council first submitted the initiative to the State Government.

A campaign was launched this month by environment and community groups, aimed at persuading the O’Farrell Government to adopt the proposal. The Master Plan aims to establish a form of management for the 61-hectare site in Rozelle, containing heritage-listed buildings and serving for years as a mental health facility in Sydney.

A Government spokesperson said an independent consultant had been enlisted to decide whether the Plan was appropriate and affordable.

“Minister [Brad] Hazzard has asked Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority to review Leichhardt Council’s draft Master Plan for Callan Park to ensure it is the best option for the future of this important site, the community and other stakeholders. The Authority has engaged an independent planning consultant to assist it in undertaking the review.

“The consultant and the Authority are currently liaising with all relevant stakeholders to hear their views, including Leichhardt Council.”

The Master Plan includes extensive community consultation and has attracted widespread praise for the depth of its research and feasibility.

“We do acknowledge that it is an expensive undertaking and it will need to be staged,” State member for Balmain, Jamie Parker said. “It’s critical that the Government adopts the Callan Park Master Plan as it sets out the vision for the community for the care, control and management of Callan Park into the future.”

Mr Parker, who has been instrumental in campaigning for the proposal’s adoption, nominated improved mental health care among the Master Plan’s crucial benefits.

“The community in the Callan Park Master Plan … the thousands of people that participated, all said that the moral heart of Callan Park is improving the health of people that have mental health problems,” he said.

“The Callan Park Master Plan sees the return of mental health services on the site, [and] it envisages the protection of the heritage elements of Callan Park. While we are not seeing developers attacking Callan Park, we are seeing demolition by neglect.”

Former Leichardt Mayor, Maire Sheehan said the site and its unique landscape is fundamental to the region.

“I think the Master Plan is a well worked out master plan,” she said. “It’s got something in it for everyone … It preserves a lot of the history and heritage of the park and also recognises that the park has some of the last remaining Indigenous landscape.

“It also, of course, has a European-introduced landscape as well. So in that sense, it is a very important site.”

By Chloe-Lee Longhetti