Category: Crag Archives

Proposals for the redevelopment of the Northbridge Plaza have generated considerable concern among residents and business-owners in the area. Over 150 people braved a cold night to attend a public meeting on this matter organised by the Northbridge Progress Association on 18 July. The debate was sufficient agitated to quickly warm the St Marks church hall.

A number of Castlecrag residents and business people attended the meeting. This article outlines the issues surrounding the Plaza proposals from the perspective of the Castlecrag Progress Association and our local business houses.

Northbridge Plaza was built in 1961 on land previously used for market gardens and residences by the developer Sid Londish. A condition of the consent was that Mr Londish donate the land to the community for the associated car park to Willoughby Council and a covenant on the land requires it to be used only for free car parking for the shopping centre and the adjacent baby health centre. Council zoned the Plaza as a community shopping centre. In the 1980s, the then owners, Australian Fixed Trusts, demolished the original shopping centre and the rebuilt Plaza was reopened in 1985. Woolworths, its main tenant, drew shoppers from other suburbs and this generated conflict with local residents over the increasing traffic congestion in the Northbridge area.

The Plaza had passed to new owners by 1987, when Jaydesh lodged a DA with Council for alterations and enlargement of the centre, including the addition of an office floor over the supermarket area. The Plaza was required to provide additional car parking spaces and a delivery area, which they achieved by purchasing and redeveloping the former service station on the corner of Eastern Valley Way and Sailors Bay Road.

Concern about the ongoing maintenance costs of the car park resulted in Council entering into negotiations with Jaydesh in 2003 to offer the firm a 65-year lease for the car park, which would be redeveloped as part of the its proposed expansion of the Plaza. Traffic problems were of increasing concern to Northbridge residents and there was also a concern the car park land, zoned for community use, would be alienated.

A move by the Northbridge Progress Association in 2003 for the diversion of traffic away from Northbridge, thereby increasing the traffic volumes in South Willoughby and Naremburn, resulted in the formation of a sub-committee of the Federation of Willoughby Progress Associations to examine the issue. I represented the Castlecrag PA on this sub-committee. The group concluded that the diversion of traffic to other heavily congested areas was not a viable ‘solution’ and that improved public transport and pricing mechanisms to induce people to reduce car use are the only solutions to the traffic problems (see p. x). It also recognised that the proposed expansion of the Plaza would not only generate additional car travel, but would also significantly impact on the continued viability of neighbourhood strip shopping centres such as Castlecrag.

With the sale of Northbridge Plaza to overseas interests, AMP Capital Investors (AMP CI) assumed responsibility for managing the complex. Redevelopment of the Plaza was again placed on the agenda in 2006 when AMP CI initiated a series of stakeholder workshops on the development of a Master Plan for the Plaza. I attended the second of these workshops on 4 December last. While stakeholders expressed strong views against the expansion of retail areas at the complex and the need to reduce traffic congestion, there was general agreement that the present Plaza was a poor design and that there are opportunities for improvement through good design and a better mix of activities, including residential elements and community services.

There was therefore considerable anguish among community stakeholders when AMP CI presented its proposals to the third meeting in April in a manner that suggested the concerns put forward by community representatives had not been addressed. The AMP CI proposal involved an increase in the retail space by 80 per cent, the construction of several blocks of residential units along Eastern Valley Way and the conversion of the car park area into a two-storey underground car park. Residents estimated that the traffic generated by the development would more than double. Community representatives objected strongly to these proposals at Council meetings in May and June. As the result of excellent debates, Council has invited AMP CI to develop a Masterplan for the Plaza, the car park and adjoining lands with any increase in retail space limited to approximately 10 per cent.

The Northbridge meeting on 18 July unanimously resolved that Council’s motion limiting the expansion in retail space be adhered to, that ownership and control of the publicly-owned Plaza car park land should remain with the community and that any residential units built on the site should be in keeping in height, bulk and quality with existing residential units in Northbridge. The meeting also called for any redevelopment to have minimum impact on current traffic volumes and on local neighbourhood shops and businesses, that improvements be made to access within the shopping centre for elderly and disabled members of the community, that improvements be made to car park, security and convenience, whether or not the car park is located underground and that there be minimal impact on the residents of Harden Avenue, Tenilba road, Northbridge Gardens Retirement Village and the Paulian Villa Nursing Home.

Northbridge Progress Association President John Becroft told the residents: “What happens to the Plaza shopping centre and the adjacent Council car-park could have a profound impact on local traffic, shops and businesses, not only in Northbridge but in surrounding suburbs. It could literally change the character of our suburbs.”

The AMP CI representative Gavin Boswarva, stated that the existing centre would not be demolished, only enhanced. “We want to work with Council and the community to move forward with the Masterplan process,” he said. Gavin also acknowledged that AMP CI cannot sell or use the car park without Council’s support.

The Castlecrag Progress Association supports the efforts of Northbridge residents to maintain the character of their suburb and it distributed flyers about the meeting to our local shops on 18 July. Shop owners have expressed a keen interest in the outcome of the Masterplan process.

Bob McKillop

How can we minimize the negatives in shopping today? Even ‘born-to-shop’ aficionados get jaded by stop-start traffic, difficult parking, crowds of jostling strangers, bewildering choices of similar goods and anonymous shop assistants with limited knowledge or communication skills!
By contrast, here in Castlecrag some 70 per cent of residents live within a health-giving 10-minute stroll of our boutique shopping cluster. The range of eateries is excellent, specialist meat and fruit & vegetables providores, couturieres, delicatessens, travel, quality books, pharmaceuticals, etc, and backed up by a mid-size Coles Express.

Sometimes individual price tags are a little higher than at mega-stores. Sometimes a particular item isn’t available immediately, but can be ordered in. But all the business-owners want to work harder to retain YOUR custom, because a local resident is more likely to be a repeat or spontaneous customer, and an advertiser to their neighbours.

Finally, do the quantitative and qualitative sums for your household: dollars, hours, travel style and time, and ease of item selection. You may find you are valuing your ‘free’ time at less than a dollar an hour!

The huge success of Castlecrag Fair was guaranteed by generous donations from all (except three) of our local businesses giving several hundred dollars each – and three being $1000 Sponsors: Roger Page Real Estate, Romanos and Yours Beautifully. All of them deserve our custom, -and a word of thanks when you shop there.

When you (eventually) reach the traffic lights at Eastern Valley Way, look up and read the (invisible) banner: “Abandon hope all ye who exit here!” Why drive out into Willoughby gridlock towards joyless consumption? Why not shoulder the backpack, or dust off the shopping stroller, and enjoy a healthy walk to the shops. Buy all the essentials, -and a few non-essentials just to surprise your household. Check out the surprising range of goods and services right here in your front-yard. Bump into friends and catch up with news; relax with some refreshment. Rediscover the joys of local shopping. (Oh, did we mention a small contribution to saving Planet Earth? ‘Think globally, Act locally’.)

Bruce Wilson

Willoughby District Historical Society

Are you interested in our local History? The Willoughby District Historical Society is seeking new members. The WDHS operates a museum in Boronia, 58 Johnson Street Chatswood, a federation style brick cottage built in 1912 and bequeathed to the Society as a Museum in 1988 by Mrs. Sonya Narelle Kirkham. It presents a fine collection of household items from the Inter-War era, material on Willoughby’s industrial history, photographs and graphic material, including plans and advertisements for sub-divisions planned by Walter Burley Griffin. The kitchen, which has been restored to its 1930s glory by Society volunteers, was officially opened by the Mayor of Willoughby, Pat Reilly, on 22 May. The museum is open 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month from 10am–4pm and the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month 1.30pm–4pm; school tours and other groups are welcome by appointment. Admission is by donation.

The Society holds general meetings at 2pm on the first Monday of the month (except January) at the Dougherty Centre, 7 Victor Street Chatswood. These are addressed by guest speakers who cover an interesting range of historical subjects and afternoon tea is served. Visitors are most welcome. The WDHS has a weekend tour scheduled to Orange and Millthorpe on 1-2 November to meet with the historical societies in those centres and explore the historical sites.

For information about the Society and membership, phone 9410 3203 during Museum opening hours, or call Mary Thom on 9419 5851 or Betty Doggett on 9417 4192. For information on the Orange-Millthorpe tour you can also contact Bob McKillop at 9958 4516.

Castlecrag residents will be aware of the large area of land between Eastern Valley Way and Alpha Road with a prominent ‘For Sale’ sign. This is former Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA) land that was reserved for the Warringah Expressway corridor under the County of Cumberland Planning Scheme in 1951. The corridor was subsequently abandoned by the NSW Government in 1977 and the land was rezoned primarily for residential (low density housing) and open space purposes.

In 1999-2000 Willoughby Council joined with the RTA and the Department of Urban Affairs & Planning to produce a land planning strategy for the surplus corridor land in the Willoughby Council area. The land Willoughby bounded by Eastern Valley Way, Windsor Road, Mowbray Place, Remuera Street and Alpha Road, Willoughby was known as Precinct 2 in the strategy, which was completed by JBA Urban Planning Consultants Pty Ltd in June 2000. The land use in Precinct 2 had been a mixture of low density residential housing and public open space. The outcome of the strategy was to allow medium density residential (110 dwellings) and public open space (1.5 hectares).

In 2002 Landcom was appointed to co-ordinate the development of the Precinct 2 housing and new public park. The Master Plan for the precinct involved extensive community consultation, which resulted in the proposed new dwellings being reduced in number to 80 townhouses. Landcom subsequently withdrew from further involvement in the scheme, resulting in the site being offered for sale to a new developer. At its meeting on 23 June 2008, Council delegated authority to the Mayor and General Manager to finalise a Deed of Covenant to bind the new owner of the land (now known as Willoughby Market Garden) to complete the existing Masterplan and development approvals.

As reported in past issues of The Crag, the area has a long history as the site of extensive Chinese market gardens. I was therefore interested to come across a report in the Daily Telegraph of Friday, 12 September 1913 with the heading ‘Opium Den Discovery at Willoughby’. While the article reflects social mores and attitudes of that era, I thought that readers might be interested in some extracts from the piece as follows:

The Chief Secretary has received a report from Supt. Goulder in regard to an opium den in Willoughby. Publicity was recently directed to this place owing to a quarrel between a habitual opium smoker and the Chinese who kept it. According to the information now in the possession of the Chief Secretary, the opium smoking took place in a cottage on the outskirts of Willoughby, towards Middle Harbour, about 2½ miles from Chatswood station.

“Until recently,” says Inspector Goulder in his report, “the locality consisted almost entirely of gardens worked by Chinese, but the bulk of the land has been sub-divided for residential purposes. The cottage referred to has been in the occupation of a Chinese for a number of years and a white woman about 40 years of age who has lived with the Chinese for many years. The front part of the cottage was tenanted by another Chinese of advanced year, and for a number of months another white woman has been living there. This latter stated her age to be 31 years, and that she had been living with Chinese for about 18 years.”

The report goes on to point out that the Chatswood police appeared to have suspected that opium-smoking was carried on at this place, which they searched for opium on several occasions. In March 1911, the police detected a number of Chinese smoking opium, and four of them were successfully prosecuted. The report claims that there was no doubt that the older Chinese men had been visited for some months by a number of white women and men from various parts of the metropolitan district, and the cottage was no doubt an opium shop for the sale of opium.

Bob McKillop

Pam’s Café

The Crag welcomes the new owners of Pam’s Café, Lisa and Cornel Chow, to our community. Lisa and Cornel formerly operated a café business in Smith Street in the East Chatswood industrial area, which they sold three years ago to take a break and be full-time parents to their three children. They have lived in Middle Cove for 18 years and love the area because of its strong sense of community. In their new venture at Castlecrag they hope to build on the friendships they have established in the area and foster new ones. Patrons at the café will notice that it is business at usual at Pam’s with the same staff still providing efficient and friendly service.

Big Morning Tea

The Castlecrag ladies committee for the ‘Big Morning Tea’ held on 22 May wish to thank the Castlecrag community for their most generous support in our fundraising efforts for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The tea was a great success, with over $1500 raised for the foundation. We thank all the wonderful Castlecrag friends and neighbours who came to the event with all the cakes and biscuits – we appreciate your support, time and company!
The committee – Jill Moffatt, Diedre Phoon, Gloreen Goldin and Jennifer Kos – also extend their thanks to the following Castlecrag businesses for their most generous support in our fundraising efforts : LJ Hooker, Richardson & Wrench, Dr R Barratt, Castlecrag Post Office, Swimaster Pool Shop, TravelPlan, Castlecrag Meats, Ganache Patisserie, Sydney Butcher Boys, Gourmet Source, Burley’s Restaurant, Clipso, Vald’arno and Martha’s Restaurant.

Jennifer Kos

Honours for Castlecrag residents

Congratulations to Professor Geoffrey Duggin who was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to renal medicine and toxicology in the Queen’s Birthday Honours this year. Professor Duggin was honoured for his medical work as a clinician and researcher, and for more than 30 years of work for professional associations. He founded the toxicology unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1980 and headed the unit until 2007. He also worked as a senior renal physician at RPA Hospital for more than 30 years.
We also report that Harold Spies has been inducted into the Allen Strom Hall of Fame where his name will be inscribed on a shield and on permanent display. The award was established by the Nature Conservation Council (NCC) in memory of the late Al len Strom’s untiring dedication to conservation and education in New South Wales. Nominees for this award need to have made a constant and invaluable contribution to the environment over a number of years and to have displayed qualities of integrity, reliability and commitment. Harold has been actively involved in conservation matters in Castlecrag and Willoughby for over 25 years, as a member and President of the Castlecrag Conservation Society (CCS), a member of the Willoughby Environmental Protection Association (WEPA) and until last year a member of WEPA’s Sugarloaf Bush Regeneration Team; in addition he has been a tireless campaigner in many local environmental issues.

Sally’s Bookshop

As residents will be aware, Sally’s Bookshop closed on 30 June. The Castlecrag community is the poorer that our little shopping centre was unable to sustain a viable book-selling business Sally has moved to a new home at Taree where her mother is busy implementing plans for her new life! I am sure all Castlecrag residents will join the Progress Association in wishing Sally all the best in her future adventures.

Chamber of Commerce

Further to our report in the April issue of The Crag, the committee of the Northbridge & Castlecrag Chamber of Commerce is proceeding with incorporation of the new organisation. The purpose of the Chamber is to promote the local business districts of Northbridge and Castlecrag and to champion the interest of its members to key stakeholders, particularly local government. A contact database of 141 business in Northbridge and 53 in Castlecrag has been drawn up and membership promotional material is being developed for distribution to these organisations. Further information about the Chamber can be obtained from Marko Delatovic at the Northbridge Golf Club, phone 9958 6900.

Climate Change forum

On 29 May Gladys Berejiklian MP arranged a public forum at the Dougherty Community Centre at which Ms Louise Wilson, a local resident, writer and lecturer at UTS, presented an information session on ‘Sustainability and Culture Change’ covering such topics as the science, the evidence, and the impact of climate change. Louise had been trained by former US Vice President, Al Gore as a ‘climate change messenger’. The presentation was followed by questions from the audience and discussion on various related matters.

Kidz Club

Building on the success of the January Children’s Holiday Club held at St John’s Church under the auspices of the Anglican Parish of East Willoughby (St James, Castlecrag and St Johns, East Willoughby), the July Club held on 10 and 11 July was attended by an increased number of children (44 on one day and 39 on the other). Pastoral Assistant Richard Sercombe and volunteers from both churches plan to hold another club in January 2009.

Advance Australia…Where? is the title of the book published last Spring by Australia’s most highly respected social researcher Hugh Mackay. He has forensically analysed ABS data and other quantitative and qualitative research to ask important questions: What will the next generation of children be like? Are we re-engaging with government policies, not just daily politics? Why are houses getting bigger while households get smaller?

Despite unprecedented prosperity, Hugh’s research has identified widespread anxiety and depression, record levels of debt, and yearning for more meaning in our lives as key issues for Australians. Join in the discussion on these issues with Hugh, who will be our Guest Speaker at the next Community Meeting on Tuesday 26 August at 7.30pm.

The forthcoming local government election is an important event that will shape the future directions of our city. In this issue we are providing profiles of the candidates who had announced their intention to stand for election by 1 August as your guide to who is standing and what they stand for. Please put the ‘Meet Your Council Candidates’ evening in your diary. It will be held will held on Wednesday 3 September at Willoughby Public School at 7pm (for 7.30), before the Election Day 13 September. Come along to hear all candidates’ proposals for how they intend to contribute to local council activities in Castlecrag, and the wider Willoughby City environs.

‘Your blood’s worth bottling!’ Special thanks are extended to those Crag residents I met donating blood at the Plaza last month. The Red Cross constantly needs more blood, and not just the ‘blue’ variety. Its next collection there will be in October, so keep a lookout for notices or phone 131495.

In the February issue of The Crag I spoke of building a ‘2020 vision’ for our community to replace myopic near-term goals. Your CPA always tries to forge past short term ‘kerb and gutter’ issues, and ask readers what sort of community and suburb you would like to grow here together. It was therefore pleasing to see that our new Prime Minister has also adopted the ‘Australia 2020’ concept to initiate long term strategizing at a national level (see www.australia2020.gov.au). Participants in the 2020 Summit report that it was an uplifting experience and we hope that their combined knowledge, experience and visions for the future will help delineate key national issues and positive future directions to enrich debate then action on national and global issues.

We must not sit back, however, and expect this type of ‘top-down’ planning is all that is required. Each small community needs to do its own ‘bottom-up’ planning. For instance, where do you want this little peninsular of 1100 households to be in 2020? The next 12 years do not affect the age group that presently guides your Progress Association as much as it does those in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are possibly new to Castlecrag and may have been attracted here by the local ‘vibe’ as well as the geographical beauty, all of which have been developed and protected by older and past generations. You are often working long hours, raising young families, and paying off homes. Nevertheless the ‘investment’ of a few hours per month in an organization like the Progress Association is actually an investment in your household (and house value).

Provide us with your ideas and feedback at info@castlecrag.org.au, write an article or ‘Letter’ to The Crag, and come along to the General Meetings of the Progress Association and other community events to exchange views with others.

Bruce Wilson

Toad, Ratty, Badger and Mr Mole with their friends and enemies came to life at the Haven Amphitheatre in March for eight performances of the classic Kenneth Grahame adventure story for families. Once again the Haven Management Committee has had a successful collaboration with Julie Mackay and the RAW-EM theatre company,(our last being A Mid Summers Nights Dream at the same time last year). This time the weather was much kinder and we only lost one performance due to rain.

Wind in the Willows has been our most successful production in reticent times and some of the comments the show received are:

‘The Haven Amphitheatre is an experience in itself. Even the drive down by the mandatory shuttle-bus was informative with the Haven bus driver telling some thing of the heritage of the area and the venue….

The show was introduced by the out internationally acclaimed violinist Alla Sharova (a temporary resident in Castlecrag) who generously gave a few impromptu lessons to the young audience in the front row. Alla then went on to carry the evening musically. Brett Neville gave us the legally blind and befuddled Badger, Michael Terry was a dastardly, wily chief Weasel while Olivia Solomon’s, as with Pearson and Macaulay, amply pulled off multi-able roles, including Chief Stoat and the ditzy, impressionable gaoler Phoebe. But there was no denying the star turn, the stylishly-named Blair Cutting, who, while sounding like a matinee idol, looked every bit a toad and relished every line.’ (Australian Stage Online)

There were many other comments from appreciative audience members, including emails and phone calls.

As to what’s next?

In September we will be playing our part in Willoughby council’s Spring Festival and towards the end of November The Haven will presenting a production of the Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Images from Wind in the Willows

Much has happened at the Griffin-designed Willoughby Incinerator in Small Street since we reported the decision of Willoughby City Council in August 2006 to undertake a full restoration of the building. As of March 2008, the initial demolition and removal of previous additions had been completed, together with the preliminary testing of all structures.

Testing found that the chloride level in most of the concrete is at a level high enough to cause corrosion of the reinforcement. Cracking is present in the entire height of the chimney, which is in a very poor state, while much of the floor is also in poor condition.

The consultants have assessed several options for the future use of the building, including as a regional gallery. Unfortunately the incinerator site is not well located to capitalise on visitation, public transport and car parking. The building itself is quite small; there is no access for loading bays and no space for storage. In addition, the heritage listing of the building carries a number of restrictions that may prevent the necessary alterations to make it effective as a regional gallery. The strict climate control systems necessary for such use would also add considerably to the cost.

Accordingly the consultants have recommended that the Willoughby Incinerator be developed as a cafe, exhibition/meeting rooms and artist studios. Council has endorsed the report’s advice on the use of the building.

Work will now commence on the repair and restoration of the structure prior to the final fit-out for use. In addition, the proposed use of the building as a public venue will require installation of a lift near the north western corner (estimated cost $250,000). A public art component will be incorporated in the lift over-run pit and it is proposed that an artist of note be commissioned to prepare this component.

The technical problems now identified and additional works have resulted in an increase in the cost of repair and restoration works. The total cost of the restoration project (including the lift) is now estimated at $1.87 million. The additional funds ($670,000) will be funded from Council’s Asset Improvement Reserve.

The Incinerator when completed will be a remarkable building which will provide a valuable addition to Council’s community facilities.

The restoration work has taken considerably longer than expected but the end result will be a great example of reuse of a heritage building. The additional restoration cost including the provision of a lift for people with disabilities is vital to ensure that the building meets the needs of all of our community.

Editor

Wanda Spathopoulos, The Crag – Castlecrag 1924-1936. Blackheath, Brandl & Schlesinger, 2007. Paperback, 407 pages, 42 b&w photos. RRP 39.95.

Edgar Herbert, who had spent six years in the United States where he studied physical education, found himself in the same compartment as Walter Burley Griffin on an overnight train journey from Sydney to Melbourne in 1920. Their conversation deeply impressed the educationalist and, following their move from Melbourne to Sydney in late 1922, Edgar and Grace Herbert brought their young family to live at Castlecrag in 1924, initially living in the Griffin-designed King O’Malley house (now the Private Hospital site). In early 1927 the family moved to a weekender shack on Torquay Point where there was ‘no water, no electricity, no sewage, no ice, no bread or milk, and no mail’. There they remained until 1938, but the house that Walter Burley Griffin designed for them would never be completed.

Wanda Spathopoulos’ book, which comprises memoirs of her childhood in Castlecrag supplemented by subsequent research into the period, provides a valuable record of the Castlecrag community in its founding years. Every member of each household during this 14 year period is covered it seems. Walter and Marion Griffin play dominant roles of course, but the real heroes to emerge from the tale are Edgar and Grace Herbert. Like the Griffins, they were driven by a deep commitment to humanity and a desire to help others. Like the Griffins, economic times did not smile on Edgar Herbert and he and his family lived in poverty for much of their time in Castlecrag; but his spirit and strong moral values never wavered. Wanda has done us all a service in documenting much of the Herbert family’s life in this book, from Edgar’s chance meeting with Griffin in 1920 through to the frustrations of his latter years when the Sydney YMCA thwarted his plans for advancement in order to keep the local physical education college going.

Perhaps the most important and fascinating feature of this book is the insight it provides into the magical environment and culture in which the children of the early Castlecrag grew up. I suspect it was not Wanda’s main intention, but she has conveyed much of the feeling of freedom, exploration and interaction with nature that the Castlecrag peninsula offered its children—it was an idyllic childhood that people who grew up in Castlecrag into the 1950s and early 1960s continue to look back on with nostalgia, but sadly appears to have been lost in the world of mass consumerism, electronic entertainment and organised events that now dominate family life.

For the Herbert girls in particular, Marion Mahony Griffin became a powerful influence on their childhood. In her grand work, Magic of America, Marion states: ‘All my life the time I have spent with children, always borrowed since I had none of my own, has been spent in making them “naughty”. To me it was an obvious perversion of nature to try to instil moral notions into little children and a very apparent imposition on the part of grown-ups to make life easier for themselves at no matter what cost of loss of character to the young.’ Then of Castlecrag, she states: ‘In this bush a child could roam at will. Children should no more be brought up in houses than colts and calves.’ (Part III, p. 124)

The Herbert girls, Irven and Wanda, spent long hours with Marion and followed her rules on the freedoms they were allowed, particularly never disturbing the work of the architectural staff. Wanda, the younger, initially found Marion distant and overbearing, but these memoirs are a testament to the influence Marion had over her. To Wanda, ‘Marion was dynamic; Marion was magic’. [From speech at book launch] As soon as she was able, Wanda went overseas in search of the Greek gods that Marion had introduced her to, married a Greek and lived there for much of her adult life.

Of Walter Burley Griffin we learn rather less. Most of the characters in this story have a deep admiration for Walter’s architecture and the philosophy that lay behind it, but the man himself remains a distant and shadowy figure.

This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of the history and character of the Castlecrag of the 1920s and 1930s and is recommended reading for all local residents. It should, however, be seen as a memoir, albeit supported by a considerable amount of follow-up research, and many of the facts and interpretations will be open to contrary views. The book would have benefited by a more rigorous edit, for there is much that is peripheral to the central story in its 407 pages. And while several of the intertwined chapters on the author’s life in Greece provide a useful platform from which to appreciate the Griffins’ design concepts for Castlecrag, this reviewer failed to see the purpose of the majority and found them distracting.

Bob McKillop

NSW Minister for Planning, The Hon. Frank Sartor, has released a Discussion Paper (title above) sketching proposed ‘reforms’ to the NSW planning system at State and Local levels. It has enthusiastic support from the Coalition for Planning Reform, an alliance of 14 major development industry and planning organisations. However the 152 Councils of the Local Government Association and the Shires Association, community groups and individuals have grave reservations and suspicions.

The Castlecrag Progress Association has long argued for more consistent and simple criteria for decision–making in planning and development proposals, but shares LGA’s concerns. Specifically, all local progress associations are joining LGA’s call for a proper consultation period, aiming to settle non-contentious reforms by July and the rest by December.

This article spans the 142 page proposal and its impacts on Castlecrag residents, homes and amenity. Our planning cub-committee has researched a Special Report for consideration by the committee and submission to NSW Planning. Issues include:

Aims for the Planning system: The Paper seeks to encourage more sustainable developments, to be transparent and accountable; to ensure the economic use of resources and time; to achieve consistency and simplicity with clear agreed systems for decision-making; and to ensure an equal and fair approach to all decisions for all participants. These generalities are unexceptionable; it is the proposed methods that are causing concern.

Plan-making: Three levels of ‘Environmental Planning Instruments’, State, regional and local government, govern land use and economic development in NSW. Their effectiveness depends on consistency between the different levels, the quality of the plans, their clarity for ease of use and the effectiveness of their application ‘on the ground’. Your Progress Association supports the principle that planning instruments and development controls need to be clear and definitive; that we residents need to know what we are permitted to do—and what developers are permitted to do. We also believe that effective plan-making requires high levels of community participation, as it is a prime object of the Environmental Protection & Assessment Act: ‘to provide increased opportunity for public involvement and participation in environmental planning and assessment’. The Paper is not clear as to whether future plan-making would require public consultation, or whether a Council would be able to amend the Planning Department’s standard template LEP to address the special needs of a local area.

Development assessment and review:The Paper aims to move to a ‘tailored assessment system’ that depends on the scale, risk and complexity of local environmental plans and development projects. Developments for single dwellings and alterations less than $1 million are deemed ‘minor’. Criteria for ‘exempt’ and ‘complying’ development would be revised to ‘achieve fast and simple approvals for single dwellings and other minor developments and to take volume out of the assessment system’ in order to increase the proportion of DA’s in these categories from 10 per cent to 50 per cent within four years. Where a DA is assessed to be fully ‘complying’ with the applicable code, a certifier (council or private) may approve the development. A courtesy note is proposed to notify affected neighbours and there would be no right of appeal for complying development. New procedures are set out for ‘minor non-compliance’, but a full DA to Council would be required where a DA does not comply with relevant codes. First-level appeal would be to a ‘planning arbitrator’ for a non-legal informal review. Only then could a further appeal go to the Court. A list of approved ‘planning arbitrators’ would be established by the Department and Councils.

The Progress Association supports clearer development controls that reduce non-complying DAs. However, the special circumstances of particular sites must be recognised and addressed. With its diverse topography, scenic and bushland areas and important Conservation Area, Castlecrag requires a more flexible approach to the treatment of DAs (both residential and commercial) to allow innovative solutions to development in our special geographic and social environment.

Private Certifiers: The role of private certifiers in the planning system remains controversial. The Paper proposes addressing perceived and actual conflicts of interest by strengthening the registration and auditing of private certifiers and broadened and mandatory training for certifiers. A key issue is whether private certification is an accountable and transparent system of accreditation, compared with the present system of elected Councillors making these decisions after consulting the community.
Please read the Discussion Paper at http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/planning_reforms and a Commentary by the Environmental Defender’s Office (a not-for-profit legal centre specializing in public interest environmental law) at http://www.edo.org.au:80/edonsw/site/papers/planning_reforms071210.php

Bruce Wilson