Callan Park upgrades deemed invalid
Image: Balmain Road Oval
While Leichhardt Mayor Darcy Byrne is excited to announce a $500,000 upgrade for the Balmain Rd sports field at Callan Park, claims have surfaced documentation approving the proposed floodlights is void.
The legitimacy of plans to build four 18-metre light towers has come into question with the Heritage Council of NSW only approving 15-metre high light towers.
“The mayor and councillors had a debate about this and said that it’s only a typo in the Heritage Council’s consent,” Rozelle resident Alice Kershaw said.
“When the application came in, the letter stated 15 metres while the attached documents said 18. We thought it was funny that they didn’t query it.”
Mr Byrne insisted Council has legitimate approval for the 18-metre light towers. “The Heritage Council of NSW and Council’s own heritage advisors both supported the proposal for the playing fields and floodlights, so you can’t get any clearer than that,” he said.
“There is approval for 18 lights and councillors have received legal advice from Council officers that this is the case.”
However, a spokesperson for the Office of Environment and Heritage said “the Heritage Council have consented to floodlights at a 15-metre height at Callan Park”.
President of Friends of Callan Park, Hall Greenland believes foul play is at hand. “There are some people going around saying that it is not a valid Council approval if the Heritage Council hasn’t approved it,” he said.
“I think Council needs to readvertise the lights and ask the Heritage Council to approve 18 metres, not 15 metres.”
After receiving counselling from the Heritage Council’s architect Geoffrey Britton, Friends of Callan Park have called for mobile lights to be used instead of the planned permanent fixtures.
“We would be happier if the lights were mobile; Council would set them up when they needed to and take them away,” Mr Greenland said.
The Friends of Callan Park website appeals for consideration into the heritage aspects of the park and the elevation-blocking views.
“The Council did not for instance engage a heritage landscape expert to examine the project, despite the fact that the towers will sit in a still-existing 19th-century heritage landscape,” the website states.
“They will also be bang in the middle of the view lines from Balmain Rd across the fields to Kirkbride, [which is] an iconic part of our architectural heritage.”
The $500,000 sporting field upgrade includes the levelling of the site, installation of underground irrigation drainage, refurbishment of an existing toilet and amenities block, in addition to the implementation of light towers.
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