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A NSW court has blocked a controversial plan to expand a marina on Sydney Harbour because it would have “significantly diminished” views across the water to heritage-protected islands.
The plan to enlarge the footprint of Woolwich Marina on the lower north shore and increase the number of berths from 45 to 79 raised the ire of residents and was opposed by Hunters Hill Council. It was rejected by the Sydney North Planning Panel last year.
Plans to extend Woolwich Marina are opposed by Hunters Hill Council and some sailing and resident groups.Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong
Land and Environment Court Justice Richard Beasley said in a decision on Friday that the visual impact of the proposal from the publicly accessible foreshore “would be such that development consent should not, and cannot, be granted”.
“These visual impacts are closely linked to what I also consider to be significant impacts on heritage items within Sydney Harbour,” Beasley said.
The marina is located near the state heritage-listed Kelly’s Bush Park and the world heritage-listed Cockatoo Island.
Kelly’s Bush is the site of the first “green ban”, where a group of local women banded with union leader Jack Mundey in the 1970s to block a luxury housing development.
Beasley was appointed to the court this year and is an experienced environmental lawyer. He is also an author: his novel Hell Has Harbour Views, which satirised life in Sydney law firms, was adapted for ABC television in 2005.
He referred in his decision to the distinction between a view and “something merely being visible”.
“For example, if a line of boats were to interrupt the image of the Sydney Opera House with their masts and rigging, the Opera House may be visible in the background … but the view would be significantly diminished.”
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Sydney firm Micheal Fountain Architects launched Land and Environment Court proceedings last year against Hunters Hill Council, asking the court to give the marina expansion the green light.
“The closest island to the proposal site is Cockatoo Island, which is located 250 metres to the south,” Beasley said.
“The island is recognised as having UNESCO World Heritage significance and is listed in the National Heritage List, relating to its past as a penal establishment from 1839-69 for convicts who reoffended in the colonies.”
Spectacle Island, about 500 metres south-west of the proposal site, is a functioning Royal Australian Navy base. It has Commonwealth heritage protections.
Beasley said that “[from] the public domain of Kelly’s Bush foreshore, and from foreshore locations in the Horse Paddock [park], there is significant obstruction to views of both Cockatoo and Spectacle islands”.
He concluded that the visual impacts of the proposal were “of such magnitude that consent should be refused”.
“The sense of them being islands in the harbour is significantly diminished because of the view obstruction.”
The Save Our Shores residents group had gathered more than 900 signatories against the proposal.
It said in a statement to supporters on Friday: “Your support proves our public spaces are, and always should be, for the benefit and enjoyment of all, not an exclusive few.”
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