Letter to the Editor

Michael Gormly’s exposé of Sydney Council’s proposed demolition of heritage-listed Fitzroy Gardens highlights why we need a more honest and transparent Council, or a new Council (October 14).

Council hid its heritage report until we threatened legal action. This report does not say it “supports the design proposal”*, as claimed by Council. It doesn’t even mention the existence of the proposed design let alone analyse or tick off any plans.

However, it does say these cherished gardens are of “cultural significance”. It states the whole 1971 garden design by Ilmar Berzins, Sydney’s first landscape architect, “is of state significance” and should be conserved, a concept foreign to this project, which seems to be based on the usual developer principle that a good block is an empty block.

The full heritage report is available for public viewing at the Kings Cross Community Centre, Rex Centre, 58 Macleay Street, entrance near Baroda Street.

It’s time locals asked: just whose council is this?

Andrew Woodhouse,
President
Potts Point and King Cross Heritage Conservation Society