City Rail evicts Newtown home-owners

Hundreds of angry Newtown residents have protested the proposed demolition of heritage-listed houses in Leamington Avenue.

The NSW Department of Transport is planning to demolish the properties for the construction of a Western Express/City Relief Line.

Residents said they received an anonymous flyer on June 1, informing them their homes would be resumed.

A protest march took residents and supporters along Wilson and King street, ending at Leamington Avenue, where President of the Save Leamingtion Avenue group Louise Alley addressed the crowd.

“Thank you for helping us show that when homeowners move into a house, or do up a house, or sell a house, and they do the right thing by the state, that the state should do the right thing by them,” she said.

NSW Deputy Premier, Carmel Tebbutt said Transport NSW was still conducting studies and “there is no decision that has been made at this stage.”

She was heckled throughout her speech.

Ms Tebbutt said she would work towards a solution that didn’t endanger the houses.

“But we all know that public transport needs to improve in our city and the Western Express is a good project,” she said.

City of Sydney Councillor John McInerney said Council had been removed again from the decision making process.

“The government considers that it has the right to overstep local communities and their elected representatives,” he said.

“If the decision to demolish these houses for the so-called preferred alignment goes ahead, there will be no regaining what is lost. … This is part of our heritage, part of our history.”

Deputy Mayor of Marrickville Council, Fiona Byrne supported the residents concerns.

“Here we are in a heritage conservation area, talking about demolishing these homes,” she said.

“Not even for a rail tunnel, but for a construction zone – for a space for them to dump construction rubbish while they build a tunnel.”

Matt Norman, nephew of the late Olympian silver medallist Peter Norman, travelled from his home in Melbourne to attend the rally.

His uncle is featured in the famous “Three Proud People” mural which will be lost if the plan goes ahead.

“If this does go through and these houses are knocked down, it’s not 30-odd houses that are being knocked down, it’s five people per house- that’s a lot of families,” he said.

The National Trust is lobbying for an alternative site at North Eveleigh be considered for the development.

By Alex Giblin