Ten years on, fight goes on to save suburban oasis

Ten years after launching a campaign to save the stretch of beautiful open space that separates St Helen’s Park from Bradbury from developers, local resident Alan Skeoch is wondering if he will ever get there.

“All we want is peace of mind,’’ he says.

Peace of mind would come if the owner of the land, the NSW Government, and Campbelltown Council, worked together to rezone the land for recreation.

That’s all that’s required, but after 10 years, Mr Skeoch, the father of two young children aged seven and four, says he’s not sure that the people at the top have any empathy for the little people living in suburbia.

“I think the point at this stage is that our elected representatives either are powerless or unwilling to take action,’’ he says.

“Our elected representatives don’t seem capable of acting in the interests of nearly 1,500 people on a petition.’’

The land he and the other residents want to save for open recreation is adjacent to Flynn Reserve, near Woodland Road.

The land is owned by the Planning Ministerial Corporation, but is managed by the Office of Strategic Lands, which is part of the NSW Planning, Housing and Infrastructure department.

A year ago, when the South West Voice investigated the matter, one of the things we unearthed was that the plan for a Georges River Parkway from St Helen’s Park to Glenfield had quietly been given the flick.

For almost 40 years the land in question was a corridor reserved for a new north-south Campbelltown bypass road known as the Georges River Parkway.

Which came as a bit of relief for residents, because a four lane highway behind their homes was a worse prospect than developing the land for housing.

Speaking of housing, Sydney has a shortage crisis on this front, so the government has launched a land audit.

The aim is to find NSW Government owned land suitable for housing.

But for these St Helen’s Park and Bradbury residents this has meant another huge obstacle for their bid to have the land rezoned for recreation so their children can play sport after school while they walk the family dog and so on.

Mr Skeoch says he has received a letter from the minister for planning Paul Scully confirming that Flynn Reserve – as residents have come to call the entire stretch of open space – is indeed being considered as part of the land audit by Property and Development NSW.

“The land audit was said to ask one simple question across each parcel of land- is it suitable for housing, yes or no,’’ says Mr Skeoch.

“In the case of this subject, the parcel of land is not suitable, can we move on from this?

“The system is either broken, or the government is saying one thing and doing another and expecting me to fall over and lose interest (I won’t!),’’ he says.

Mr Skeoch has also contacted the minister for lands and property Steve Kamper, asking why it’s taking so long to make what seems to him a simple decision.

“I have not had a response from Steve Kamper yet,’’ he says.

“The ongoing process (land audit) should not prevent a request from the public such as this.

“The public service is there to serve the public, is it not?

“Could Minister Kamper and Minister Scully, together, give some direction to their respective departments and forward a request to rezone as per the public’s request, through the Planning Delivery Unit?’’