We Give a Fig: Sydney Light Rail in the hot seat
BY LANI OATAWAY
On Monday November 14 upwards of 200 Sydneysiders rallied against the ripping down of a centuries old fig tree to make way for the city’s new light rail project.
Organised by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, the group met outside Langton Clinic on Surry Hills’ South Dowling Street, standing against the destruction of a tree that the City of Sydney Council had proved could stay standing.
“In a shameful and cowardly and lazy act, they came in the middle of the night with chainsaws,” said the City of Sydney.
The project is subject to Compliance B48 in the Council’s Tree Report, which stresses finding ways to avoid removing trees, minimising damage and to guarantee the health of trees marked to stay standing.
The Council created 3D modelling to exhibit the fig’s root structure and to demonstrate that the tree would not affect the route of the light rail.
But a spokesperson for Save Sydney’s Trees, Margaret Hogg, said Sydney Light Rail scrapped the research to save money.
“Rather than cost them money and time they considered it was all too much. The contract purely says if there is a way to save the tree it should be done. City of Sydney said there was a way – this was a complete slap in the face,” she said.
But a spokesperson for Transport for NSW said this tree was already slated for removal in the original 2013 Environmental Impact Statement. She said the Council’s proposal ignored the significant amount of pruning the tree would suffer, which would be detrimental to its health.
“Transport for NSW considers that the increased costs and time delays that would be associated with the redesign are completely unjustified given the tree’s health would still be at significant risk and pedestrian safety would be jeopardised,” she told City Hub.
The project has worked on a tree by tree basis, claiming to have saved over 120 trees originally intended for the axe, with an extra 140 new trees already planted in Centennial Parklands.
It is promised over 1,800 new saplings will be planted to compensate for the chopped fig trees, but Ms Hogg says this isn’t good enough.
“It is inadequate. The canopy cover on this one project alone leaves us 10 hectares down. How is it a compensation package when we are moving backwards? You do the maths on this. Eight trees standing two to three metres high doesn’t equal a 30-metre-high, 30-metre-canopy fig,” she said.
Cutting down this fig tree fits into the wider narrative of the project not delivering what the public expected.
Cr Moore is threatening to withhold vital payments of $47 million to the government, claiming the project is not living up to its agreements.
“There is no bigger supporter of light rail than the City of Sydney – but what we’re getting doesn’t match the vision we were promised,” Cr Moore said.
The Council is shocked by the government’s planned 67-metre-long trams for the rail, making them the second longest in the world, and said they are better suited to suburban heavy rail than running in the middle of the city.
The tram shelters planned along the heritage precinct of George Street have also been criticised as being too big and spoiling the streetscape, a proposal the Council condemns as backtracking on the promise of a “great central boulevard.”
“Public transport doesn’t have to come at the expense of our environment,” said Cr Moore.
“It’s time the Premier stepped in and got this project back on track.”
But Sydney Light Rail argues the global city’s explosive population needs more public transport, and says the new line is an environmentally friendly answer.
The line is claimed to take pressure off city buses and trains, promising to cut greenhouse gases by over 600 thousand tonnes. The light rail trams are guaranteed to be almost 100% recyclable by the end of their lifetime.
The Sydney Light Rail network will cost $2.1bn, and will run from Circular Quay to Randwick and Kensington, through Moore Park and Surry Hills.
The project is currently under construction and is due for completion in 2019.
