Submission to Sydney Harbour Federation Trust
10 December 2013
by David Henderson
Reproduced with permission
To the Harbour Foreshore Trust
Firstly you should be thanked for the stewardship of the Trust over the last 13 years. You have held true to the philosophy of the Deed and delivered to the Australian public a special place on the foreshores of Sydney Harbour. The idea of public space for the Australian public today and for generations to come, I consider is the essence of your charter. My objection to the redevelopment is based upon the following issues;
- What is being proposed is illegal.
- The Trust’s plan clearly states it should be your endeavour to deliver the maximum amount of open space to the Australian public. Not to hand over to private enterprise key areas for development with restricted public access.
- It should be up to the Australian public to have sufficient time to review ALL proposals and come to a decision based upon the goal set out in the plan.
- There is a distinct sense the discussion has been going on for some time without open consultation with the community.
There are many other reasons including traffic congestion , heritage , pollution etc, but for me this proposal would betray the essence of the vision that lead to the forming of the Harbour Trust in the first place. I believe you are custodians of the Trust not the architects and as such you should be rejecting the commercial development of our public land.
David Henderson