Biodiversity Submission

Please help us save the Lungs of Leichhardt urban forest. This is the last place in Leichhardt where it’s common to see small birds like Superb Fairy Wrens, plus it’s home to countless other wildlife including the Grey-headed Flying Fox. Long Nosed Bilby and Powerful Owls, not to mention established colonies of Kookaburras. In addition, these trellis streets are critical to supporting the biodiversity of the GreenWay which is the main wildlife corridor in the Inner West. It is used by migratory birds and bats. Replacing this crucial backyard habitat with apartments will cause significant ecological and environmental harm. It’s even more frustrating given that the Inner West Council is currently protecting a nearby carpark that could deliver higher density development without removing any urban forest or any ecological loss.

The deadline for submissions is 17 December 2023. We don’t know if any submissions after this date will be included, however, even if you have missed the date, sending in a submission as soon as you can will still send a message that the community does not support the rezoning.

You can make a submission by ONE of the following methods:

• Sending an email to: strategicplanning@innerwest.nsw.gov.au
• Sending a letter addressed to: Inner West Council, PO Box 14, Petersham 2049
• Uploading a document on the online survey section of this site:
  • Lodgement:  https://yoursay.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/parramattardcorridor
  • There is a survey that you can complete if you want but mote to complete the survey you will need to join Your Say Inner West and create an account or log in if you already have one.

If you do use the Council site and do the survey, for the following question “Question on Council site:  What aspects of the Proposal do you not support:”, here is some text that you can use if you want to note that you are opposed to this rezoning:

• I am opposed to the section of the rezoning plan aimed at the area from north side of Hathern Steet to the south side of Kegworth Street and including all of Beeson Street, westside of Tebbutt Street between Hathern and Kegworth and 41-59 Tebbutt Street (the east side).

If you email/post or submit a document, here are instructions:

• Make it “Attn: Strategic Planning: Parramatta Road Planning Proposal”
• Add a line to your document (and create a subject line if emailing) with the name of the submission and the submission code  Parramatta Road Corridor Stage 1 Implementation   Planning proposal number: PPAC/2020/0003

It is a good idea to include a paragraph at the start explaining who you are and what your interest is. Are you a long-time local resident with knowledge of the area? Are you representing an organisation with particular interests? Do you have any expertise that might be relevant? Or were you a visitor or a fan of this area? Or do you just care about not losing a critical part of our urban habitat that supports native wildlife and migratory animals?

Make it clear at the start that you oppose this proposal.

Note your submission will be made public and while your name/address details etc should be redacted, be aware of that if you wish to include any personal identifiable information as that probably won’t be removed.

Here is a one page template that focuses specifically on Biodiversity and Environmental Harm you can use or modify to oppose this rezoning:

Here is the full Lungs of Leichhardt report on Biodiversity and Environmental harm if you want to craft your own one or want to learn more about specific issues:

Note: If you’d like to put in a submission that tackles the other issues beyond this then see Submission Help for more general advice and help.