HPG opposed a proposal for a large-scale commercial development of a residential aged care facility in parkland on Middle Head.
CAMPAIGN AIM
To reverse the decision to approve a large-scale commercial development for exclusive use on public land in a Sydney harbour foreshore park of great natural and heritage value.
outcome
Following a legal campaign launched by HPG with EDO in 2016 the Government withdrew approval for the development.
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On 31 October 2013 at the busiest time of the year in the lead up to Christmas, the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust announced a development application (DA) had been received by a private company for the development of a private residential aged care complex on the Ten Terminal site, Middle Head. Amendments to the Trust’s Middle Head Management Plan would be required to accommodate this DA.
What we accomplished:
1.
Linda Bergin OAM, co-founder of the Headland Preservation Group (HPG) in 1996, sought assistance from people in the community including former members of the Headland Preservation Group. In December 2013 the ‘Save Middle Head’ campaign swung into action organising letterbox drops and public meetings to alert local residents of the threat to public land on the Ten Terminal site on Middle Head and potentially other Harbour Trust sites in future. HPG was formally reactivated as Headland Preservation Group Inc. on 5 January 2014.
2.
In response to the Minister and the Trust’s call for simultaneous public submissions under two different Acts of Parliament, the EPBC Act and the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust Act, HPG pulled out all stops. Our submission contained 19 documents. It included expert reports on heritage, ecology and bushfire. In addition, HPG members and volunteers did a combined analysis of over 70 pages in length.
3.
Federal Court proceedings against the Trust, its Executive Director, and developer Middle Head Healthcare Pty Ltd by EDO NSW representing the Headland Preservation Group Inc. HPG sought judicial review of the Trust’s decision to approve a development by Middle Head Healthcare Pty Ltd of a private aged care facility on public land at 10 Terminal, Middle Head, on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour. Then in November 2015 EDO and HPG successfully secured an undertaking from the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust (the Trust), on a ‘without admission’ basis, that it would not issue any planning approval in relation to a proposal for a private development on public land at Middle Head in Sydney Harbour.