Railway_Digest__February_2018

New South Wales
News
Newcastle Council approves rail corridor rezoning
On Tuesday 12 December Newcastle City Council approved the rezoning
of the city’s former heavy rail corridor despite strong objections from
Greens councillor John Mackenzie, who said there was no evidence the
land would not be required for future transport needs.
The decision paves the way for a mix of open space, university buildings
and residential and commercial development on the 1.53 kilometre
strip of land between Worth Place (located approximately 300 metres
west of the former Civic station) and the Newcastle station site.
Cr Mackenzie was the only councillor to vote against the plan
and the only councillor to speak on the issue other than Lord Mayor
Nuatali Nelmes, who moved the motion to support the rezoning.
Cr Mackenzie said after the meeting that he accepted the decision
of the council, the issue had been “divisive in the community for far
too long” and it was time for a “truce”.
“It is critical from this point that we move forward collaboratively to
make this decision deliver genuine revitalisation outcomes, in terms of
university expansion, social housing and open space”, Cr Mackenzie said.
However, during the meeting he was critical of a report from council
staff on the rezoning, saying it was open to accusations of bias and left
the council’s decision open to legal challenge. The report said that 394
public submissions and 137 form letters had objected to the rezoning,
while 226 submissions and 46 form letters had been in favour of it.
Cr Mackenzie said the report had “miscategorised” the 137 submissions
as form letters, and he took exception to a section of the report that
said those in favour “expressed excitement about the development of
the university precinct”. “We need objective, formal information, not
speculation on people’s emotional state,” he said, noting there was “no
corresponding speculation” on the emotions of those against the proposal.
Cr Nelmes cited the results of a council-commissioned survey of
955 residents by ReachTEL, which she said showed almost 60 per cent
of people supported the rezoning while 34.7 per cent wanted the
land retained as a transport corridor.
Cr Mackenzie rejected the survey’s methodology and results,
describing it as “push polling”, a marketing technique designed to
sway opinion under the guise of a survey.
Cr Nelmes praised the council for securing concessions from the
state government during the rezoning process, including an extra
$150 million for public domain, a more sophisticated light-rail design,
affordable housing and an integrated transport plan. She said the
council had lobbied forcefully on urban transformation, and that work
was producing significant economic development.
The rezoning clears the way for the NSW Department of Planning
& Environment’s final approval to change the land use along the
former rail corridor to:
• Education between Worth Place and Civic,
• Mixed use, including affordable housing, between Civic Station
and Merewether Street,
• Public recreation at Civic and from Perkins Street to Newcomen
Street,
• A mix of dwellings, retail, commercial and public recreation from
Merewether Street to Brown Street; and
• A tourism zone at Newcastle Railway Station.
SSR’s empty grain train 4343, with Clyde/EMD unit C510 leading BRM001, C506, G513 and a rake of BGKF/BGVF converted grain hoppers,
charges through Awaba station on Thursday 28 December 2017, bound for loading at The Rock in southern NSW, returning to Newcastle
two days later as Train 3444. Matthew Proctor
FEBRUARY 2018
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