Take Action to Save the Lungs of Leichhardt

The Inner West Council will vote on whether to rezone the West Leichhardt area bounded by Hathern, Beeson, Kegworth and Tebbutt Streets so that existing homes with backyards can be replaced by apartments.

We don’t have the exact date yet when this will happen, but it could be at any Inner West Council meeting.

We need your help to put pressure on Councillors to vote against rezoning West Leichhardt.

If a majority of Councillors vote to support this plan, this will mean allowing:

• the removal of a large amount of urban forest habitat connected to the GreenWay
• the disappearance of small birds and vulnerable native species like the Powerful Owl and the Long Nosed Bandicoot from Leichhardt and the GreenWay
• threatening the fragile ecosystems of the Inner West, including habitat for migratory birds and bats
• increased air pollution and urban heat effect – because we will have lost the large trees that clean and cool our air.

In addition to the biodiversity harm, the rezoning plan will harm the community in multiple ways:

• the rezoning has nothing to do with rejuvenating Parramatta Road which is the ostensible purpose of the rezoning proposal;
• these streets form a much valued, existing and friendly neighbourhood of lower and middle-income households;
• most residents oppose the rezoning which was initiated without notifying residents let alone consulting them;
• the new multi-storeyed developments would be at odds with the existing character of the precinct;
• the original Parramatta Road Corridor Urban Transformation Strategy promised to maintain the current character of the neighbourhood;
• there is no affordable housing in the rezoning proposal, nor are there any improvements in infrastructure to cater for the projected quadrupling of the population; and
• the rezoning would introduce hundreds of extra cars into these four streets and the traffic generated by rezoning will aggravate existing bottlenecks as well as make our streets less safe, including significantly increasing the risk for children attending Kegworth Public School.

This proposal is a small part of a much larger proposal to rezone around Norton Street in Leichhardt and Canada Bay. So removing West Leichhardt will not make a big difference to the numbers of housing units delivered – but it will make a big difference to preserving our habitat for native wildlife and the biodiversity found in GreenWay!

In fact, there are alternative sites nearby (including an empty carpark) that could deliver far more housing in a shorter time and with more certainty – all without removing existing homes and precious native wildlife habitat.

You can read more about the Biodiversity Issues and Other Issues that will result from rezoning.

WE NEED YOU to let the Mayor and Councillors know that you don’t want West Leichhardt to be rezoned!

The Inner West Councillors need to know how much the community cares about the Lungs of Leichhardt urban forest and its importance to the biodiversity and health of the GreenWay!

Please contact Mayor Darcy Byrne and ALL Inner West Councillors to urge them not to vote to rezone this area. We need all the votes we can to save our urban forest!

Here are the Councillors contact details (email and phone): https://www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/about/the-council/mayor-and-councillors

We are developing sample letters that you can copy or use as a starting point for your letters.

We encourage you to customise it with your own personal stories of why you care.

Feel free to CC or forward your emails to us at contact AT lungsofleichhardt.com

Volunteers

Please contact us if you would like to help volunteer with the Lungs of Leichhardt campaign.

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