“Impossible victory” achieved for Bronte RSL

By Emily Contador-Kelsall

The Bronte RSL has finally been saved after more than two years of sustained community pressure on the NSW government.

The Bronte community, Waverley council and local politicians including Coogee Liberal MP Bruce Notley-Smith have campaigned against the plans which were lodged by developer Winston Langley Burlington (WLB) in March 2013. Last week the Department of Planning and Environment (DoPE) dismissed the application.

Dr Stephen Lightfoot, spokesperson for Save Bronte said the decision was “do or die” for the community.

“If the department had changed the planning controls for the developer, there is nothing the community could have done to stop the oversized building being approved,” he said.

“We stopped the overdevelopment of our neighbourhood against all the odds. The impossible victory!”

Dr Lightfoot said he was in disbelief upon hearing the news but felt great relief when it was confirmed.

“Relief that over two years of such hard work by so many people in our community had achieved what a lot of people said we could never do,” he said.

Mr Notley-Smith, who fought alongside the community, said the decision was a fantastic win for all residents of Bronte who challenged the “ridiculous over-development”.

“This wasn’t the right proposal for this location. In numerous submissions I’ve referred to this as a gross over-development which makes a mockery of the Local Environmental Plan,” he said.

DoPE listed several reasons for its rejection of WLB’s proposed planning controls, including opposition from the community and council.

A spokesperson for DoPE said the decision showed that the planning process worked.

Labor candidate for Coogee Paul Pearce said the rejection of the proposal was a “no-brainer”, and that it should have never gone to the planning assessment commission but been dealt with locally.

“The whole thing has been extraordinarily peculiar; it was something which was well beyond anything permissible under the zoning,” he said.

“It was a good result for the community. It cost the community thousands of dollars in planning consultants and legal advice, plus all the angst that goes along with something that drags on for two and a half years.”

Dr Lightfoot said the best thing about “this whole wretched process” had been seeing the community stand together for so long.

“Some of us had to devote hours and hours, week after week for over two years to ensure that our neighbourhood wasn’t ruined by a development that was simply too big for the Bronte RSL site. That was not easy for our team.”

The decision from the department came 11 weeks after they received independent advice from Waverley council planners that WLB’s planning rules for Bronte RSL had “no strategic merit and should be refused”.

The delayed response kept the community and Save Bronte on their toes as they continued to pressure DoPE and Minister for Planning Pru Goward as they awaited the decision.

Waverley Mayor Sally Betts said the decision confirmed the integrity of Council’s decision-making process.

“The State Government has upheld our decision to refuse this gross overdevelopment because it’s not suited to the scale and objective of the neighbourhood centre,” she said.

Dr Lightfoot said Save Bronte is now calling on WLB and its partners in the Bronte RSL sub-branch to “act responsibly in proposing a redevelopment of the Bronte RSL site”.

“Any further attempts to avoid our planning laws will be fiercely opposed by the Bronte community,” he said.