The following message was recently sent by Robyn to fellow FOCRs

A very big thank you for your feedback. I am sorry I have not replied to each of you personally.  By far, the majority fully supports rebuilding on the original site. It is now up to Council to support the University planning once it becomes formalised.

We mustn’t lose sight of just how this all started and the progress so far. (This is covered fully elsewhere on this website). What follows is a brief list of the key points. The history will be complete only when we are sure that there will be NO BUILDING ON CUNNINGHAMS REACH.

August 2009, then Councillor Win Gaffney questioned why there had been no site inspection for the proposed University Boat Shed on Cunninghams Reach. This was shortly before the University DA was to be put to Council for approval.

August 2009, the Lane Cove Bushland and Conservation Society represented by Doug Stewart, alerted Lane Cove residents of the DA for the use of Cunninghams Reach. For many, this came as a complete shock.

Some 80 residents inspected both the original site and the proposed CR site. ‘Outrageous’ was the most repeated polite expletive. Less polite expletives were also very audible.

By sheer luck for LC residents, a migrant from Bonnefin Road Hunters Hill, Shaun Bailey just happened to land a number of these less polite expletives as personal insults. The explosive person involved will remain nameless, but most at the meeting will remember the occasion vividly. Why luck for LC residents? Shaun just happens to be a legal beagle and so incensed was he that he dedicated himself to guiding and advising pretty much every FOCR strategy.

A working group came together within days of the bombshell site inspection and it seemed more than appropriate to call ourselves Friends of Cunninghams Reach. The acronym seemed entirely in keeping with the tone set at the site inspection.

Large gathering at Public Meeting September 2009

The rest is history and Kevin and I have endeavoured to keep FOCRs up to date over the past two years.

There are many others who should be named, especially those who put in so much effort to our public meeting, but let’s keep these for our final report.

And of course, we have had the wonderful support of the near 200 on our FOCR mailing list and those of the Lane Cove Bushland and Conservation Society.

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and a rewarding 2012.

We have had a number of responses to the news about Sydney University’s decision to rebuild on Linley Point Reserve Burns Bay and not on Cunninghams Reach. 90% of the responses were in favour of rebuilding on Burns Bay.

Only one gave reasons against the original Burns Bay site, preferring instead the Blackman Park site. Another ’shuddered’ at the thought of Blackman Park.

Samples of comments in support of building on the original site at Burns Bay and some of the issues raised in Building there are here.

Sydney Uni's Burns Bay Boatshed Site Today

At a meeting on 30th November with the Director of Infrastructure Services Mr Colin Rockliff, we learnt that after assessing some 19 waterfront sites with the assistance of Council, only three were short listed as suitable. Of those the University plans to seek Council approval to rebuild on its original Burns Bay site (Linley Point). A decision that seems both logical and satisfactory. The other sites are Blackman Park and Cunningham’s Reach. Council support for rebuilding the boat shed at Linley Point will be critical.

This matter is now very much one of urgency. Until recently the Uni rowing club was generously allowed the use of part of the St Ignatius College rowing shed but shortage of space has rendered the Uni rowers homeless. Strictly speaking this is not an issue for FOCR but the Uni group has requested we support their plans to rebuild on the original site. Clearly as FOCRs we are motivated to support rebuilding on the old site because it ensures that Cunninghams Reach is not alienated.

Almost there!

Best wishes for Christmas and let 2012 be a year of CR celebration,
Robyn

On Thursday 29 Sept FOCR had a meeting at the University of Sydney with a group of those involved in the University rowing club initiative.

At long last there is a little more to report but still no confirmation that Cunninghams Reach is not being considered. In fact it is, but so are other sites. In other words no decision has been made and we suspect that there has been little progress since around mid-2010.

Our FOCR ’spies’ who reported observing ‘planning’ activities on CR and on Linley Point Reserve (the site of the former, now burnt out, boatshed) were accurate in their appraisal. The university has certainly had assessors looking at the pros and cons of each site. But to reinforce: no decision has yet been made.

We have agreed another meeting with Sydey University’s Director of Campus Infrastructure Services, Colin Rockliff at the end of November. The university indicatred that it is planning to issue its own update in the near future and we will certainly circulate it via email and on the web. So nothing definite at this stage however at least the long communication drought might have come to an end.

Meanwhile we will stay vigilant.

We have another report of several men at Cunninghams Reach Park with notebooks, taking pictures, and wearing floro vests in the past couple weeks. The parked truck (only one on site) was a white ute, but no ID.

We are watching out and would be interested to hear reports of any other such activity.

In frustration at the cone of silence which Sydney University has lowered we have written to V.C. Dr Michael Spence again requesting information, which they clearly have, on their plans for their boat complex.

The letter is here and the text is repeated below.

Dear Dr Spence

Once again we are contacting you to request information on progress with the Sydney University Boat Club shed. We have very strong reason to believe that the university is once again contemplating the use of Cunninghams Reach despite the efforts of the Friends of Cunninghams Reach (FOCR) to have the shed sited elsewhere.

In response to our request for community consultation, your letter of 15 February 2011 stated that, ‘The process is nearing a position where a constructive dialogue could be commenced with the community and other stakeholders, and the University recognises FORC (sic) as a key participant. The consultation that will be undertaken will see the kind of transparency I referred to in my address to the alumni group. I expect you will be contacted in the coming weeks to commence that consultation.’

Almost six months have passed since we received your letter and in that time local residents have witnessed people working on planning documents at Cunninghams Reach. This has caused considerable alarm and a call for further protest action from our FOCR team. We have asked them to wait until the end of August for a credible response from you before we take action. We expect to be reassured that the university is not planning to use the Cunninghams Reach site.

We have discovered through our eyes on the ground that the University have developed plans to for building their mega-shed on our Cunninghams Reach Park.

Our observer reported;

The Rowing club architect and two rowing club staff(?), were back at Cunninghams Reach the other week (11am 8th June 2011), with full plans in hand!

They were walking out and about the proposed building site, and taking heaps of photos from above on the cliff and of the tree locations and tree heights.

I tried getting close to check out the plans, but they packed them up pretty quickly when approached, and were very evasive!….

When they knew they were being watched, they left the site in two separate cars, leaving Lane Cove and headed over the Fig Tree Bridge (towards the City?).

The plans appeared to be at an advanced stage with detailed diagrams and associated colour attachments (several sheets). All must have related to Cunninghams Reach site, as the were referencing the sheets to views and ground.

Clearly activity is advancing and concentrating on Cunninghams Reach! (They didn’t seem to have any other plans with them or in the cars for other potential sites? As it was early morning it didn’t seem likely that they had visited any other Lane Cove sites prior?).

Despite Sydney University Vice Chancellor Dr Michael Spence’s assurance in February that they would be in contact “in the coming weeks” they have said nothing, they have communicated nothing. Clearly they tried to hide the details from our diligent eye on the ground.

We will be ramping up action to discover the University’s plans and to communicate these. Say tuned.

Christmas greetings were sent from FOCR to the VC Dr Michael Spence of University of Sydney in response to his Christmas Address to Alumni when he claimed that one of the University’s major achievements for the year was transparency between faculties. The letter content is in the post below.

It wasn‘t until February that VC replied explaining the delays in boatshed planning processes (in part):
‘The process is nearing a position where a constructive dialogue could be commenced with the community and other stakeholders, and the University recognises FORC as a key participant. The consultation that will be undertaken will see the kind of transparency I referred to in my address to the alumni group.  I expect you will be contacted in the coming weeks to commence that consultation.’
We had hoped to be able to put this on our website together with the announcement of the promised consultation much earlier however we have heard nothing since February.

To see the VC’s reply in full click here.

The following is a message from Robyn Stutchbury.

First, wishing all a great Christmas and let us all hope that 2011 will bring the official confirmation from the University of Sydney that it will not be building on Cunninghams Reach.

I wish I could be bringing some good news, but still no word.

I do know that there are some alumni of the University of Sydney might have been recipients of the Vice Chancellor’s Christmas message. In response, we have sent him the following message on behalf of the Friends of Cunninghams Reach.

Best wishes, Robyn

A Year of Clouded Transparency

The Vice Chancellor’s 2010 address to the alumni is most impressive.  Although from outside the University Community, we members of the Friends of Cunninghams Reach would welcome such transparency as claimed to have been achieved in 2010 by Dr Michael Spence .

We were promised on-going communication and transparency regarding the decisions and plans for Sydney University Boat Club’s rowing shed as the project progressed, but since March we have met a stone wall of silence. FOCR is committed to keeping this small riverside public park in Lane Cove free of development.

On behalf of FOCR we send our best wishes to all those involved in the boat shed planning and hope that 2011 will be a better year of transparency for us and for our issue with the University of Sydney.

Following is the message to Sydney University on 19 August 2010 addressed to Mr Colin Rockliff, Director Campus Infrastructure & Services and Professor Derrick Armstrong, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Education

Cunninghams Reach Public Meeting

It is almost 12 months since our very successful Public Meeting which attracted well over 200 people to protest against the Sydney University boatshed proposed for Cunninghams Reach. Concerned park users, supporters of FOCR, are calling for another public meeting to mark the anniversary (5 September 2010) and to call for the University to formally confirm that it has no plans for future development on Cunnninghams Reach.

We are aware that the University has withdrawn the original DA and we are much relieved. However, this does not guarantee that the current design concept, that we are led to believe is in preparation, has not been sited on Cunninghams Reach.

Of course the ideal would be to recognise the anniversary not as another protest, but as a celebration of the University’s formal confirmation of no plans to build on Cunninghams Reach.

If we are to be able to celebrate in this way, we would be delighted for you to attend.

Best wishes,

Robyn Stutchbury