ATP “should remain in public hands”

ATP “should remain in public hands”

By Lauren O’Connor

 

Five corporations have been invited to tender for the Australian Technology Park (ATP) at Eveleigh UrbanGrowth NSW announced on Tuesday May 26, despite sustained opposition to the site’s privatisation.

A spokeswoman for Urban Growth NSW said in a statement this week that the tender campaign will open in June and will run for approximately eight weeks.

The five companies; the Altis Property Partners (with First State Super), Aqualand Projects, Goodman Property investors, Mirvac Projects and the Walker Corporation, were invited to buy and develop the site.

The 13.2 hectare public space was open to expressions of interest from developers and investors in late 2014. UrbanGrowth NSW Development Corporation (UGDC) 
initiated the privatisation in order to “release the capital locked in the asset.”

“The Request for Tenders will include requirements for continued public access to and through the Park, and specify that future owners embrace the commercial, heritage and conservation attributes of the Park,” the statement read.

UrbanGrowth claims they have introduced 100 companies and 5,500 jobs into the ATP since it was established in 1996. The preservation of public access, employment opportunities and the heritage rail yards are key issues raised by critics of the site’s privatisation.

NSW Greens, the City of Sydney and community groups from surrounding suburbs have made clear their opposition to the plan.

Spokesperson for REDWatch community group, Geoffrey Turnbull, said the state government has not addressed formal submissions made before the tender was confirmed.

“On one hand they’re saying ‘we want to engage the community, we want a dialogue with the community,’ and on the other hand they haven’t responded to the submissions about the sale from Alexandria, Redfern, Friends of Erskineville, RedWatch groups or the City Of Sydney,” he told City Hub.

Mr Turnbull said it is not clear whether heritage buildings and machinery collections would remain publically accessible when the site is developed for residential use.

“We’ve requested their information in terms of what their response is to community and the City of Sydney objections that have been made. REDWatch has expressed concerns that the machinery collection could be preserved but no longer publically accessible in a privatised ATP,” he said.

In 1988 the Smithsonian Institute Washington DC, USA wrote to recommend the state government preserve of the “extremely rare and well preserved” Eveleigh Rail Workshops.

“If it would be of any help in the campaign to convince the NSW government of the historical value of the shop complex, I would observe that such turn of the century railway shops, with essentially original equipment intact, are now a great rarity world wide,” the letter read.

NSW Greens submitted an Expression of Interest in January to advocate that the ATP be kept in public hands.

Greens MP Jenny Leong campaigned against the sale early this year and says her party questioned the Minister for Heritage and UrbanGrowth on the issue.

“In the first week of the new parliament I put a motion on the agenda calling on the government to halt the sale, it should remain in public hands. The independent review commissioned by the City of Sydney raises serious concerns about risks relating to the sell-off of the site,” she said.

“This government needs to understand that true consultation means listening to the community and acting in accordance with their wishes, not just engaging in a token process,” Ms Leong said.

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