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82 Wentworth Prk Road Uncategorized

Presentation of protest letters

August 23rd 2023

Kobi Shetty MP our local member accepts the 400+ protest letters to pass onto Rose Jackson the Housing Minister
Caroline evicted from 82 Wentworth Park Rd hands over the protest letters

Our objections to demolition of 82 Wentworth Park Rd

  1. Accommodation is needed now.  Refurbishment at a cost of $2M would make 27 dwellings available in less time than a demolish and rebuild at a cost of $21.7M. This means more supply more quickly to address the public housing shortage.
  2. Pollution. The site – once occupied by a paint factory from the 1930s – contains contaminants that pose a risk to neighbouring households.
  3. Environmental damage. The Royal Institute of British Architects points out that “if developers replace an existing building with a new one, vast amounts of CO2 are created to make the bricks, cement and steel for the replacement. If instead they can renovate the existing building, emissions are greatly reduced.”
  4. In-fill preferred. Currently sophisticated town planners and architects are favouring renovation and in-fill rather the brutal demolition and rebuild. This current trend even reached the conservative magazine Domain (SMH 5/8/23). Yet the LAHC continues to argue for the outmoded policy of demolish and rebuild.
  5. Alternative strategies to demolition. The Glebe Society has provided the Minister with an alternative proposal, being a refurbish and in-fill scheme for a total of 52 bedrooms at $14M compared to the projected $21.7M for 53 bedrooms under the current plan. 

Strong community support against demolition exists.