MEDIA RELEASE
Friday, 6 September 2002
Randwick Council at Odds with Government and Light Rail Enthusiasts
Randwick City Council is experiencing more problems with the "Kensington Town Centre improvement program".
In recent times, the contention has been over proposed height limits along the edges of Anzac Parade. Now the Greens are making the grassy median strip running down the middle of it also an issue by claiming it should be kept for light rail.
A Council circular has raised the possibility that the strip could be resumed by provocatively stating,
"The median strip along Anzac Parade is wide and green, but a green space in the middle of a busy arterial road isn't a green space that residents can use."
The circular seems at planning odds with media reports that NSW Transport Minister Carl Scully has launched a feasibility study into expanding the existing CBD light rail service. It is unclear as to whether he means to include Anzac Parade as an option to explore in the study.
Greens Councillor Murray Matson, a long time light rail proponent, has called on the Minister to include the median strip. He said,
"A previous feasibility study that ruled out using the median strip for light rail was fatally flawed because it only assessed a very limited Anzac Parade service to the University with virtually no connections to a broader network of rail lines.
If the Minister is open minded enough to now assess the feasibility of light rail in the inner city, then he should at least reconsider an Eastern Suburbs link at the same time in the name of integrated transport planning."
Clr Matson also called on the Minister to officially notify the Council that retaining the Anzac Parade median strip for light rail was a priority. Clr Matson elaborated,
"Randwick Council is currently finalizing major changes to its planning instruments covering the Kensington Town Centre. It is very important that the Transport Minister makes it clear that we Councillors should keep future light rail options open by retaining the median strip."
Councillor Matson claimed that ministerial intervention was necessary because the Council had a "poor track record" of moving under its own initiative to preserve existing light rail corridors.