‘Don’t tell the neighbours’

Feb 14: Leading Strathfield solicitor, Patrick Sattout has criticised plans for the extension of the Australian Catholic University campus, which he says will turn Strathfield into a “university town” in an area that is residential and already is struggling with traffic and little or no parking. A meeting, at which residents can raise their concerns, will be held at Strathfield Town Hall this Saturday, February 18 at 12.30pm.

The Worst Neighbour

by Patrick Sattout

I had the good fortune to reside in Barker Road, Strathfield for over a decade prior to the creation of the Australian Catholic University Strathfield Campus. I was quite happy to be surrounded by schools like St Martha’s at which my children had their primary education, St Patrick’s where my son studied and Santa Sabina where my daughter studied, not to mention the many other schools including Homebush Boys, Strathfield Girls, Seventh Day Adventist, Meriden and more.

The ACU made application for its university at Barker Road and to my everlasting regret I did not oppose it. I supported the university believing that, at the time, the naysayers belonged to the “not in my backyard” brigade, as the proponents had addressed nearby residents concerns. Would they deceive their proposed neighbours? You be the judge:-

1.            The ACU promised that there would be no appreciable increase in traffic. Mysteriously, traffic in and about Barker Road and nearby streets is closer to a Parramatta Road gridlock than a suburban street.

2.            The university told us that they would have more than sufficient parking facilities to service its students and staff. It is now near-impossible to find street parking within a radius of 500 meters of the University during its hours of operation. The university would have us believe that these cars (the majority of which bear P-plates) mysteriously appear in our suburb when the university opens in the morning and disappear when it closes in the afternoon.

3.            The current ACU development consent (DA 0102/252) provides for a maximum enrolment of 1,100 students and a maximum of 750 students per day. By its own admission the University has more than three times that number of students.

The ACU proposes a new concept plan with the following features:-

1.            An additional 228 carspaces. That will not go close to serving the University’s current needs let alone its projected requirements. But there’s more.

2.            On my reading of a new application before the Department of Planning and Infrastructure (a supposedly defunct authority) the ACU seeks to increase its capacity by about 30% to at least 4,800 students.

3.            The University also intends to spend $55 million on the proposed TOWERS that will dwarf all other buildings of its neighbours in the residential area while destroying the heritage buildings.

4.            The ACU has obtained permission from Strathfield Council to increase its student numbers whilst it waits for construction of its new buildings.

The ACU must start by complying with its current DA conditions before we consider let alone accept any new extended proposal. The University has made blithe and illogical commitments to fix the projected traffic problems, such as prohibiting or limiting parking on suburban streets altogether.

Two questions: Why should the University oblige Council rangers to police the parking at ratepayers expense?and, Fixing the parking problem by removing the parking. A failure of logic? Baby with the bathwater?