The rescission I had submitted to overturn Council’s earlier decision to build two 24 storey towers at the Civic Centre precinct was unfortunately defeated tonight after Council split 6 vs 6 and the Mayor used his casting vote against the motion. But not before I had the chance to again voice the overwhelming opposition of the people on the Council floor:
Tonight we heard from Mrs Lyn Slatter who lives with her family on Colston Street, Ryde. Like so many people we keep telling ourselves we are representing, the Slatter family will be directly affected by the construction of two 24 story towers on the site.
It will be their backyard that will be overshadowed by these massive towers. Their cars will be the ones stuck in traffic jams each day on Blaxland Road and Lane Cove Road. Their friends and neighbours are the ones who will find it impossible in the future to find street parking in their own streets if this development goes ahead.
What is distressing is that the Slatter family is not alone in this. Thousands of our residents living around Civic Centre site will be similarly impacted. I think we as councillors need to ask ourselves if we are not representing people like the Slatter family- then what really are we doing on Council?
We are told that Council faces financial ruin if the development does not go ahead. I don’t believe that. But in any case, that can never justify ruining the daily lives of so many of our residents living in City of Ryde. I may not be a central ward councillor but such is the height of this development, people living as far as Eastwood and Denistone and West Ryde in the West ward would all be able to see these towers from a distance. We also heard form Julie Worsley tonight, a school teacher at my old primary school about how the development will affect people living as far away as North Ryde.
During my time on this Council, it is true that sometimes the voting result is split six all. But those are the rare occasions where public opinion in the community is evenly divided. I’ve never seen a situation like the one we have right now where it is so clear that an overwhelming majority of people are against the development and yet half the councillors still go ahead and vote for it. Over 120 objections can never be dismissed as trivial or unimportant.
I urge the 6 councillors, especially the 3 central ward councillors who voted for the development to carefully reconsider their position. It only takes one of them to change their votes tonight. They have the power to stop this dreadful development and their constituents will thank them for it. I ask those councillors to have courage, be independent and not vote as a party bloc. Your loyalty should be to the people of Ryde alone.
