At this meeting it was confirmed that vehicle access to the Business School would be from Darlington Lane and not from Abercrombie Street. Locating the access road on Abercrombie Street was one of the main issues which local residents had with the original application. Along with the design, scale and lack of open space, the proposed development would also have built an enormous barrier between the local community and the University.
The original location of the access road on Abercrombie Street would have posed a danger to schoolchildren due to its proximity to the school. It would also have the undesired consequence of bringing much University traffic to congest local streets.
Initially it seemed that the University was listening because the Vice Chancellor himself promised the community that the access road was to be moved from Abercrombie Street “in response to concerns from residents and parents of school children”.
When the revised plans were eventually submitted to the Department of Planning six months later, however, the access road was still on Abercrombie Street, despite the Vice Chancellor’s promise. Even though RAIDD wrote to the Vice Chancellor requesting an explanation for this, none was ever received.
The personnel on the University project team changed constantly through the process, making it difficult for the local community to have any sort of continuity, confidence or trust in their engagement with the University.
In order to highlight the dangers presented by the proposed location of the access road and to ensure that the local community’s voices were heard, RAIDD mobilised the local community to lodge objections to the Department of Planning, the consent authority. Over 200 signatures were also gathered in the course of a few days on a petition requesting that the access road be moved.
As a result of the community action the approval decision was referred to the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC). A number of RAIDD members spoke at the PAC public meeting making clear their feelings in regard to the development application process, the lack of consultation, and, in particular, the location of the access road on Abercrombie Street. The PAC approved the DA but with conditions.
One key condition was that the University, in lieu of developer contributions to the Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority (SMDA), was to prepare a Darlington Precinct Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Strategy by June 30, 2013, to cover the Darlington Campus and connections to the broader University Campus and public transport nodes like Redfern station. The University was to identify works required and not less than $2m worth of these works was to be completed prior to the occupation of the Business School.
At the July 24 meeting to introduce John Holland P/L as the head contractor, the University Project team informed the RAIDD members that completion of the Strategy had been put back to the end of September 2013. There will be more consultation with the local community before the Strategy moves to the planning stage.
It is to be hoped that the University considers the huge impact of the movement of University pedestrian traffic through the small suburb of Darlington, in particular from Redfern station to the campus. The local community keenly anticipates the ideas that will be contained in this Strategy and hopes that the University takes the community’s concerns seriously.
Another key condition of the PAC approval was that the access road to the Abercrombie Precinct Development site could not be from Abercrombie Street. The location of the access road to the APD has now been confirmed by John Holland P/L as being from Darlington Lane.
It appears that John Holland P/L wishes to engage with the local community and keep people informed of the progress of the development. RAIDD welcomes this as a positive way forward. Even though the local Darlington community is only small, it is to be congratulated for showing its strong voice.
At The Settlement in Darlington in 2010 the Vice Chancellor said: “One of the things that has come back again and again is that the University, quite frankly, is ashamed of not being very good neighbours.” RAIDD trusts the University has now learned a lesson and will do it’s best to overcome the distrust and suspicion that still remains within the community.
