Rosebery red

A dramatic reduction in the number of car parking spaces, combined with a significant projected hike in the number of workers in the area, is angering Rosebery residents and businesspeople, who feel they are being ignored by City of Sydney Council.

The controversy centres on the proposed new Council rubbish depot off Dunning Avenue, which has already attracted criticism for being chosen against the advice of Council’s own consultant. “Clover’s response has been evasive,” said Rosebery Residents Action Group spokesperson Graeme Grace. “They try to switch you from the problem of due diligence, to mitigating the problem.”

But even this approach has met with opposition. The group is concerned about the impact on amenity set to be wrought by the extra workers required to staff the depot. This is in conjunction with the effect of the proposed Bourke Street cycleways on parking.

“There is the threat of a double-whammy, with Council intending to station 220 staff at the depot at the same time that they reduce the number of car spaces,” Mr Grace said. “I don’t for a minute believe Council’s plan to encourage their staff to use public transport will work. At 5am there is plenty of parking available, which is surely preferable to getting up at some ungodly hour to use one and maybe more modes of public transport, just to preserve some parking for other, non-Council, employees.”

Fellow co-convenor David Potts said the cycleway proposal was fundamentally flawed. “The RTA’s NSW bicycle guidelines stipulate that the bicycle should be separated from the parked cars by one metre,” he said. “Council has acknowledged this, but ignored it. The separating strip from the rest of the street is instead 40 centimetres wide – and the RTA appears to have gone along with it.”

Mr Potts also added the changes would also affect parked motorists. “As well as the area being scheduled to lose over 100 parking spots, car drivers getting out of their cars have lost their shoulder space – it’s now much more restricted, and parked car doors will open into one of the bike lanes.

“As a method of commuter transport in narrow old Sydney streets, the commuter cyclists [we’ve spoken to] have said they’re just not going to use it – they’re going to mix it on the roads.

Margaret Hogg owns and operates the PedalPushers cycle shop off Harcourt Parade with her husband Steve. She said the existing parking was already limited and she was forced to park a number of streets away in order to free up her allocated space for customers. “Most of the people who come here are affected by parking, which has been steadily depleted over the last five years,” she said. “All of the developments which Council has approved haven’t allowed adequate parking, which spills over into the street. It doesn’t add up at all.”