Doutney concerns over East Sydney land

Greens Councillor Irene Doutney has expressed concerns over the plan for a parcel of RTA-owned land in East Sydney.

Council has proposed a zoning swap of the land at the corner of Bourke and Stanley Streets which would include a residential area and a landscaped public park.

Among Cr Doutney’s concerns was the issue of the adjacent Eastern Distributor emissions stack, which is unfiltered.

“It’s appalling that it’s right in the middle of a residential area, and they want to put more residences there and they’re doing nothing about the fumes,” she said.

“When we know that emissions … create so much damage, I think it’s criminal to be putting housing in such places without doing something about it.”

Cr Doutney also said that building more residences in the area would put a strain on parking and increase traffic.

“You put more people in there, you’re going to put more pressure on a very limited number of car parking spots,” she said.

“It will increase traffic movements, and then of course [during] the building stage it will make traffic movements so much more difficult … imagine with trucks going in and up and down.”

Another concern was whether the design of the new residences would be in keeping with the heritage character of the area, she said.

Cr Doutney said she would prefer to see the entire piece of land remain public space.

“There’s so little green space in the inner city, that it’s really important that we protect everything there is,” she said.

“We can’t just be giving away more and more green space to development … if it’s being divided up what’s going to be left for the park is going to be much less than what’s there now.”

The construction of the Bourke Street cycleway, itself a contentious issue, would necessitate part of the open space to be used for storage of equipment.

Cr Doutney was unable to say whether the park would be at all usable during this time, due to uncertainty regarding the timeline for the construction of the residential phase, but did express concern over the community consultation process for the cycleway itself.

“Our policy is to support cycleways, but again although everybody says that the consultation process was extensive, I know that the residents don’t feel that it was,” she said.

Cr Doutney said she would be happy to fight on behalf of concerned residents.

“[It] was all done without the residents being contacted … and as they get more organised I’m really happy to help with it,” she said.

“There’s a loss of green space, there’s problems with the [emissions] stack and there’s a problem with the lack of consultation.”

In regard to the re-opening of Bourke Street to traffic following lobbying by the Greens in 2006, Cr Doutney said she was unable to comment as at the time she was not yet elected to Council.

“The more pedestrianising and calming of inner-city streets, the better I think,” she said.