Hear the latest from on the Hill

Council is progressing mandatory food recycling in partnership with Lane Cove Council as ‘Food Only’ recycling.

Council voted to continue to pursue an old LEP and DCP update despite the current proposal having been rejected by the Department of Planning, needing legal advice and the upzoning of much of our LGA recently under the Low-Mid Rise Housing SEPP (2025) which requires a rethink of the DCP and changes to Gladesville town centre. The heritage controls on the North Ward, one of the few ways council can influence quality in the upzoned area, is set to be removed by a majority vote to proceed.

Council will progress with detail design for a raised crossing outside Hunters Hill Public School and new crossings at Hunters Hill Village and Woolwich Village to make it safer to cross the street, and calm traffic. More work will be done on bike route HH1 (Alexandra-Woolwich Road) in the meantime.

More significant trees were added, except some Camphor Laurels and gums proposed. To me, too many gums are not protected and then cut down or poisoned under the guise of safety - these are native endemic trees and we cannot edit them out of the landscape. A related issue of improving ‘good’ tree pruning (to avoid people going around the process) was raised and I will bring a motion to have this reviewed next meeting.

A new developer contribution plan was approved - this is capped at 1% of the cost of development, so I moved a successful motion for Council to look at a proper (s7.11) levy for Gladesville.

Development approval reporting shows a haphazard approach to tree replacement. CAP has not yet met this year, despite a prominent Heritage Item receiving approval for external works (in only 6 weeks!)

The draft signage policy was withdrawn

Given the General Manager’s resignation, an acting GM was appointed, Nicholas Tobin. Cllr Williams and I would have preferred this time was used as an opportunity to allow current staff to take acting roles with ‘higher duties’ pay instead, for their development, but we were not successful.

Council's last session of 2024 was a 4 hour marathon session.  As befits a marathon, council raced to a decision on a number of items that, in my view, could have done with deferral for greater deliberation and advice.  Nevertheless the outcomes of this meeting were as follows:

Mayoral Minutes: Up to $25,000 was awarded to Hunters Hill Historical Society to develop design concepts for a combined Town Hall, Museum and Art Gallery from existing operational funds.  A further $5,500 of the unspent Community Grants budget was allocated to Villa Maria for flagpoles, and to the Hunters Hill Historical Society for a bust of Piguenit.

Noteworthy: There is some inconsistency with previously concerns about operational deficit used, for example, in the 25 November meeting.  The grants to Hunters Hill Historical Society, totalling nearly $30,000, do not obviously not urgently address the urgent need identified in the report to address "mould, poor ventilation and lighting, high humidity, worn out carpet, limited volunteers and no long-term storage space" (p3). 

The concept is to take into account the whole building, not just the museum, and the adequacy of $25,000 for a design concept is unclear - councillors were assured the amount would not be exceeded, but not the quality of such a result.  I flagged the amount is likely to be inadequate for a good design (by way of comparison, Randwick council's concept design for the 1906 Maroubra Surf Lifesaving building has a budget of over $1m).

The outcome of the Fairland Hall independent hearing were tabled to council.  Clr Williams proposed that, consistent with the independent planner's report and council's own initial (stated) intent, the Fairland Hall Planning Proposal be amended to take account of the independent planner's recommendation (#2), to subdivide and reclassify only the part of the site intended for sale.  All three speakers against full reclassification all supported this option.  This win-win was supported by 3 councillors (Williams, Lane and Virgara), but lost on the Mayor's casting vote.  Instead the original planning proposal to reclassify the entire site was endorsed, and it will now be sent to the NSW Government for determination.

Noteworthy: A specific recommendation of the independent planner for Fairland Hall was "consider the viewpoints and issues raised in the verbal and written submissions outlined in Section 5 when making the decision...".  Of her recommendations, none were to proceed with the original planning proposal - rather recommendations were to subdivide, hold a new hearing on partial reclassification, and to use proceeds to upgrade Fairland Hall.  Failing this, she recommended a lease or license arrangement be explored.

Council heard a number of speakers against the sale of Vernon Street and the other remnant land parcels.  The speed with which Vernon Street is being sold continues to be of great concern on the community, in the absence of crucial steps including, for example, consideration of all the issues required by the Disposal of Land Policy, and a valuation.  Heather Armstrong (former Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions) flagged significant process issues of concern both as a community member and from her professional viewpoint (although, as she affirmed, not formal legal advice).  A number of speakers flagged that council did not seem to have, at any stage, addressed the substance of the submissions which were overwhelmingly opposed.  I flagged to my fellow councillors my research into former motions showed a clear intent to  maintain public access on the foreshore throughout its history, both private and public, and urged councillors to defer so such a caveat could be considered as a condition of sale.  My rescission motion on the basis of over 200 objections (now over 230) and process issues was rejected as out of order.  As a result council voted to dispose of the land, albeit using the open tendering method for Vernon Street. 

Noteworthy: Thank you everyone who signed the petition.  Public Notice will now be served - any prospective buyers should come forward once notice is published if they wish to be involved in the process.

What constitutes public opinion remains a challenge in these matters.  I take the view that council must take consultation on its face - if 60 object of 60, this is 100% of the community opposed.  Clr Tannous-Sleiman in this meeting articulated the view that consultation must be taken on the basis of the whole electorate - so 60 or 200 of 10,000 electors was only 1-2% objections.  In my view this sets an unreasonably high threshold for the public to meet in order to get council to hear their voice.  By comparison, only 500 petitioners to NSW parliament get a Ministerial response.  10,000 petitioners (1.8% of NSW electors) get set down for debate (in effect, a citizen-led Notice of Motion).  My concern remains that council as a whole (both in reports and debate) are similarly dismissive of objections in favour of a 'silent majority' of imagined supporters.  Vernon Street, Fairland Hall and 1A Gale Street (below) all seem to reflect this, in the face of actual objection.

The reclassification of 1A Gale Street from SP2 land to R2 (low density residential) with relevant controls was approved by a majority of council.  Clr Williams flagged one significant issue - that after Gateway Determination (8 July 2024) but before this meeting council received a letter (dated 15 December 2024) from the Executive Director of the Harbour Trust, the adjacent landholder (and part of the Commonwealth government) advising they had not been correctly notified and that they raised concerns.  While Clr Williams proposed this be dealt with (say, by contacting the Federal government or referring it back to Gateway), council instead voted to proceed.

Community members of Committees of Council were appointed.  I objected to two nominations, one for views inconsistent with the values of the relevant committee and one for having brought the council into disrepute, but these arguments were rejected. 

The CAP community representation was expanded to a pool of 3 - Simon Frame (also on 2 other committees), Felicity McCaffery and Arthur Conigrave. Lucy Creagh was endorsed for the National Trust, and Robert Moore for the Institute of Architects. 

Noteworthy: The National Trust and AIA appointees remain the only two members of CAP with relevant formal qualifications, and the committee remains the smallest on council.

Council has endorsed the draft Urban Forest Management Strategy for public exhibition.  I have asked, and council agreed, for a report on bushland and waterways in parallel to be prepared. The policy, while excellent and covering both urban and bushland settings, does not provide any detail on the management of bushland (non-urban) canopy.

Council will develop a boat trailer parking policy, including a trial of parking restrictions for Gladesville Road, Mary Street and Durham Street.

The draft Environmental Sustainability Policy and New Zero Implementation Plan were endorsed for public exhibition.

The Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Policy was adopted.

The Development Consent Unit was abolished, as being defunct.  I have asked the Director of Planning for feedback on what other councils do to hear multiple objectors below the threshold of the LPP, and he will revert to a later meeting with a report.

The Council after a marathon 1.5hr session with multiple speakers against the motion and over 60 written objections voted to declare 16C Vernon St surplus land and direct officers to prepare the case for sale. No strategy was presented to justify the sale, the consultation report merely declaring the objections "not sustained". Various issues were raised with objectors, in some cases what could be characterised as an attack. Ultimately the substantive issue about why public land should be sold was answered only in the negative (ie 'should not have been bought', 'did not feel safe', 'would be too costly to make DDA accessible...')

Noteworthy: The Office of Local Government wrote to HHC before the session asking for all papers relating to the proposal as well as an explanation about how the community's overwhelming concerns will be mitigated.

Following the vote, the adjacent land on the unmade part of Serpentine Road has now been cleared and cleaned up for sale (and is thus more accessible than ever before).

Council further reduced the Rugby club fees in consideration of a reduced licence area, from $23,000 to $3,000. While the baseline fee reduction was proportionate, the very low fee reflects the fact that the fee also was, and remains, in consideration of $964,000 given by the club for the Boronia Park facility.

Noteworthy: The $964,000 was a capital contribution which will now be repaid through these operational losses over 20 years. Council currently has only one negative financial indicator - operational losses.

The Integrated Transport Strategy was passed unanimously by council. This document, championed by former councillor Jim Anderson, current councillor Marc Lane and the now dissolved Movement and Transport Committee, sets out strategies and actions to help council advocate for better public and active transport in the future.

Next Steps: Council must fill the vacancy for Director of Transport as, with the dissolution of MTAC, it currently has no transport expertise to take these matters forward.

This was the first ordinary meeting of the new council, comprised for the first time in Hunters Hill’s history of a party majority, with 4 Liberal and 2 independent councillors and the Mayor.

The Committees of council were reduced to 8, with the (re-)abolition of the Movement and Transport Committee. The MTAC is replaced by the LTC (a statutory technical committee of two politicians, a police officer and a road safety officer), the Director of Infrastructure (vacant) and a twice-annual briefing to council.

Noteworthy: Roads are one of HHC's highest spend categories, with $3.6m spent on roads last year, excluding contractor and consultant fees.

The Conservation Advisory Panel (CAP) was reduced to 5 members, being 2 councillors (Mayor Miles and Cllr Virgara), a member of the AIA, the National Trust and a community representative. The omission of the Hunters Hill Trust (a CAP member for over 50 years), as well as heritage planning and landscape experts, was not explained.

Noteworthy: The CAP is now the smallest committee of council, yet is the only committee with a formal role under the DCP.

The remaining committees range from 7 to 15 members. Independent councillors are represented on only 2 internal committees, a ratio of 1:6 independents to Liberals, despite receiving 4:6 of the vote.

Next Steps: There will be a public call for community representatives on Committees, and a diversity of views is essential. Please consider applying where you have the relevant expertise.