This week at Leichhardt council voted to reject the ‘in principle’ agreement with Sydney University  over the ovals at Callan Park.  Council reaffirmed it’s support for a genuine Master Plan and called for the return of the hospital or a ‘major appropriate mental health facility’.

It was also noted that even though about a third of the packed gallery was made up of people there for other issues, the entire gallery loudly cheered and applauded when the resolution was finally passed.

This was a great result for the community and shows the strong continued community support for Callan Park even from those community members not actively involved in the campaign.

The details of the resolution moved by Coucilors Jamie Parker and Michele McKenzie is as follows;

1. That Council not endorse the in principle agreement.
2. That Council undertake direct negotiations with SHFA, the local member and the Minister for Planning for:

   Council management and care of the ovals at Callan Park prior to the development of a full Master Plan.

   That State Government pay for or contributes substantially to the upgrade of the ovals at Callan Park.

3. The Council demands a Master Plan and a Callan Park Trust with fullpublic consultation for Callan Park.
4. Council will give priority to local and current users for these playing areas and waterfront.
5. That Council records its continuing support for a major appropriate mental health facility in Callan Park.
6. That the NSW Government should provide real resources to improvethe lives of mentally ill service-users of the inner west of Sydney by providing a full range of community mental health facilities to complement the relocation of inpatient facilities at Concord. Resources should reflect the real value of the Rozelle Hospital Callan Park site, and the current needs for recovery services for people with mental illnesses.

A public meeting convened by Leichhardt Council called on the Council
to repudiate the ‘in principle’ deal with the University of Sydney
over the Callan Park sporting fields. The vote was unanimous.

The meeting supported priority for local use of the fields and
requested Council to enter into direct negotiations with the state
government for this outcome.

The meeting also expressed continued support for major and appropriate
mental health facilities at Callan Park and a master plan for the site
which allowed for the maximum amount of public consultation.

The recommendations from the public meeting go to Leichhardt Council’s
monthly meeting on Tuesday July 22 at 7pm at Leichhardt Town Hall.

Come if you can because the mayor and deputy mayor are still fighting
to have the deal accepted by the dying Council before elections in
September.

Minutes of Callan Park Task Force Meeting 9 July, 2008

On Wednesday 9th July, the Mayor of Leichhardt, Carolyn Allen and councillors joined with Friends of Callan Park to celebrate the unveiling of the plaque to commemorate the introduction of the Callan Park Act. The plaque is situated beside the Bay Run, opposite King George Oval behind the long jumps, and is in a beautiful leafy location with a gorgeous view of the harbour looking towards Iron Cove Bridge.

The Plaque reads:”The Callan Park Special Provisions Act 2002, was won by the local community supported by Leichhardt Council over many years of campaigning. This is acknowledged as the Act which makes Callan Park the most protected piece of public land in NSW. The Callan Park Bill was consented to on 3 January 2003″.

During the unveiling Councillor Michele McKenzie made the following speech to commemorate the Callan Park Special Provisions Act 2002.

“In 1999 the office of Greens MLC, Lee Rhiannon,drafted the legislation and the community fought long and hard for the political climate in 2002 that allowed the Callan Park special provisions Act to be introduced when Sandra Nori said,

“Callan Park is protected forever and a day under a Labor Government … that there is to be no loss of open space on the site and that heritage buildings, heritage gardens and the foreshore are to be preserved” (second reading speech, Nov 2002)

The unique site that the legislation protects is undulating harbour foreshore where the glowing, golden sandstone buildings still remain in their original 19th century topography.The objects of the Act were to allow the land to remain in public ownership, to allow the same amount of open space to remain and to disallow any development that increased the existing floor space on the site or that extended beyond the existing envelopes of the buildings.”

When the Land Use plan was first announced both Frank Sartor and local MP Verity Firth promised that it would comply with the Callan Park Act. Last year a 300 strong crowd heard Verity Firth unequivocally promise that the Callan Park Act would be “changed only over my dead body”.

We must hold her to this promise and remind her of it every day, because one of the key protections in that Act is that there can be no extra development on Callan Park - the total built floor space cannot be increased. Under the Land Use Plan, floor space would increase from 86,000 square metres to 128,000 square metres - a 50% increase or the equivalent of 8 football fields. What the plan doesn’t reveal is that the extra floor space just keeps on expanding and we have no reason to believe that this won’t keep happening if the act is lifted. We now discover in the Metro strategy that the government intends to reduce the green space on the site by three quarters of what it is now — so much for the promise not to reduce open space.

The Land Use Plan proposed by Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, the state Labor government and Sydney University is in breach of the Callan park act and therefore illegal and must be abandoned.

We must continue to lobby politicians, particularly Verity Firth, to remind them of their promises, and to campaign hard to increase community knowledge and support to protect this landmark legislation which has so far made Callan Park the most protected piece of public land in NSW, and must continue to do so for future generations.