Waverley Council approves redevelopment of Pavilion

BY BENEDICT BRUNKER

The controversial redevelopment of the iconic Bondi Pavilion looks set to proceed, after last-ditch efforts to stop the renovations in their tracks were defeated at a meeting of Waverley Council on Monday 5 December.

Councillors Paula Masselos, John Wakefield and Dominic Wy Kanak made a last attempt to stop the redevelopment.They put forward a number of motions and amendments that would have, amongst other things, preserved the ‘Bucket List’ restaurant, scheduled for demolition under the current plans, and kept the pavilion’s pottery studios in place.

Crs Wakefield and Masselos also moved that the council prepare a report “detailing how the current proposal… fulfills community expectations.”

The amendments and motions split the council down the middle, with the six Liberal Party Councillors Angela Burrill, Andrew Cusack, Leon Goltsman, Tony Kay, Bill Mouroukas and Mayor Sally Betts voting to proceed with the redevelopment.

Five opposition Councillors Miriam Guttman-Jones, Paula Masselos, Ingrid Strewe, John Wakefield and Dominic Wy Kanak were joined by Liberal Party Councillor Joy Clayton in voting in favour of the motions and against beginning work on the redevelopment.

Councillor Clayton has often opted to vote against her fellow Liberals on the council with regard to the Bondi Pavilion issue.

The amendments and motions were defeated on the strength of Chairwoman and Mayor of Waverley Sally Betts’ casting vote.

The council’s plans to renovate the pavilion have provoked ire and consternation amongst locals in the community, many of whom made their opposition to the plans known at the meeting on Monday night.

A number of concerned locals made speeches to the council expressing their displeasure about the proposals, including Andy Ruwald, whose restaurant The Bucket List has been scheduled for demolition under the current plans.

Local businessman, Murray Begg, also spoke out against the plans, as did Emma Brooks-Maher of the anti-privatisation campaign Crown Land our Land and Gary Holzmann, an organiser of the Shir Madness Music Festival.

Several organisers of the growing campaign to Save Bondi Pavilion also made speeches, expressing their continued opposition.

The six Councillors voting against the motions, on the other hand, made no public address in defence of the plans or against the amendments.

Critics of the plans have long expressed concern that the expensive redevelopment proposals – currently estimated to cost around $38 million – will represent a commercialisation of a beloved public space, and that parts of the Pavilion may be privatised.

Waverley Mayor Cr Sally Betts has consistently repudiated these allegations.