79-87 Malton Road - Defered by Council

The application to allow residential development of the above land was discussed at the Hornsby Shire Council meeting on 11 March.

After many speakers, Council accepted a motion by Councillors Hutchence, Browne, and Azizi that included the following:

Council write to the Minister for the Environment, Local State Members and candidates for the upcoming State election for the seat of Epping, seeking the NSW Government’s commitment to purchase 79-87 Malton Road, Beecroft on the basis that it provides important habitat for a diversity of native flora and fauna including several threatened species such as the GangGang Cockatoo endangered population and the vulnerable Powerful Owl and Grey-Headed Flying Fox and forms part of an important wildlife corridor that allows species to disperse and transfer genetic material between local reserves and Lane Cove National Park.

The matter was adjourned to allow time for that submission to be put and responded to.

BCCT AGM

The AGM is tentatively booked for the Uniting Church Hall on Wednesday 22 April at 7.30 to 10.  Further details, agenda, candidates for election to the Committee, and proposed changes to the constitution will be listed here when available, and published in our next bulletin.

Swimming Pool Regulation Implementation Delayed Again

Following discussions with child safety advocates, councils and industry stakeholders, pool owners will be granted a 12-month extension to make sure they have a valid compliance certificate before the property can be sold or leased. “We have listened to stakeholder requests for more time and examined the evidence from certifiers,” Minister for Local Government Paul Toole said. 

“The evidence showed there was a high failure rate for initial inspections and a heavy demand to make pools compliant,” he said. 

Footbridge over Beecroft Road

The Trust has been a bit surprised to find out that a pedestrian crossing footbridge over Beecroft Road is planned for early construction.  Apparently some locals received a "Have your Say" document, but clearly this was not distributed to all potential users of the footbridge.

The plan is that the bridge will be built just south of the Community Hall with lift access both sides.

This shows a plan view of the intended location

Here is an artists impression of the finished bridge.

If you wish to have a say on this, submissions are required by next Monday!  Comments received so far include:

 

"By having ramps originating as closely as possible to the Copeland Road intersections there will be much more likelihood that the bridge will be used by the general public." 

 

The Trust agrees, feeling that the only people likely to use the bridge in this location are those walking along Beecroft Road, who need to cross from one side to the other some time in their journey.  It is hard to imagine people walking from the Copeland Road to the Beecroft shops walking all the way down to the bridge, then over the bridge, and all the way back.  Even now many people cross the road there without waiting for the green pedestrian traffic light.  The location of the bridge seems to have been chosen for ease of construction rather than for usefulness.

 

"Ramps will eliminate the lifts which are otherwise necessary.  Lifts in public places seem to attract vandalism, so we could do without the inconvenience and expense."

 

The originator of this comment points out that, as Beecroft Road slopes down toward the intended footbridge, the ramps can exploit that slope.  Certainly there was much opposition to the removal of the ramp at the Epping footbridge.



79-87 Malton Rd DA 94/2013

This much debated DA refers to the large block of lovely trees just east of the entrance to Byles Creek walking path.
The DA is up for discussion at the Hornsby Shire Council meeting Wednesday 11 March starting at 5pm.  At present the DA is just to provide a driveway through all the lovely trees, but of course if that gets approved it will be hard later to refuse to let people build houses off the drive, and those houses will clear-fell the block.
Come to the meeting, find out more, and have your say.

Rail shut down 21 to 23 Feb

A rail shutdown has been scheduled from 2am Saturday 21 February to 2am Monday 23 February where Sydney Trains will undertake various wiring maintenance works between Epping and Thornleigh. The ETTT project will work during this time until 6am Monday 23 February to ensure the safety of workers and to minimise disruption to rail customers. All works are undertaken in accordance with Environmental Protection Licence #20287 and the project’s Conditions of Approval.

NorthConnex Protest Foiled

Apparently NorthConnex brought forward the 'sod turning' ceremony, and SCAPS, the campaign protesting the ventilation arrangements, suspect this was to avoid a planned protest at the originally scheduled ceremony.