Clover defends broken DA promise for Fitzroy Gardens

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has defended her decision to backtrack on a commitment that the City of Sydney Council would lodge a DA for the proposed playground works at Fitzroy Gardens in Kings Cross.

In a letter that has come to the attention of City News, the Lord Mayor gave a commitment late last year to Paul Wagner, co-convenor of Friends of Fitzroy Gardens, that the City would lodge a DA before any works proceeded.

“As I said to you on 23 August at the mayoral candidates’ forum in Potts Point, the City will lodge a development application (DA) before proceeding with the proposed playground expansion,” said Ms Moore in the letter, dated 8 October.

“City staff will also prepare a report to Council seeking permission to lodge the DA to upgrade the playground. If Council endorses the proposal, we will consult the community again as part of the DA process,” she wrote.

Council endorsed the proposed expansion and upgrade of the playground last month without any DA being lodged.

The Lord Mayor admitted that she had given Mr Wagner a commitment that a DA would be lodged – but said new information had come to light since then, causing a rethink.

“I wrote to Mr Wagner advising him what I understood at the time to be the case,” said Ms Moore.

“However, the City’s planners later established that a development application is not required for the work, because it is categorised as Exempt Development.”

The Lord Mayor said the City had conducted extensive consultation about the upgrade, which will see new playground equipment installed, and the playground expand from 130 square metres to 317.5 square metres.

“The City of Sydney has gone through a huge amount of public consultation including an online forum, 15 meetings, two information sessions and two workshops with local schoolchildren,” she said.

“This consultation found the playground was in dire need of an upgrade and the City has refined the design to take community feedback into account.”

Ms Moore reiterated that the upgraded playground would make up just 6.3 per cent of the total Fitzroy Gardens area, and would be located in the park’s lower terrace area, which was constructed in the 1990s.

But Andrew Woodhouse, President of the Potts Point and Kings Cross Heritage Conservation Society, said last month’s motion approving the works should be rescinded or re-listed, and that the City must lodge a DA for the proposal.

Mr Woodhouse has received independent legal advice indicating that the City does, in fact, require a DA.

A City of Sydney spokesperson insisted the project would continue without a DA, echoing Ms Moore’s stance.

“A development application is not required for the works as it’s categorised as Exempt Development under state planning laws,” said the spokesperson.