lindfield village green

Changing of the Guard in Davidson Electorate

As you will be aware, Jonathan O’Dea has been the State Member for Davidson since before Support Lindfield was formed in 2012.  He has been a great supporter of ours and the Hub project. Because some State Government funds are destined for the Hub he’s been a staunch advocate for the Hub with relevant Ministers, as well as addressing Parliament several times about the project.

 
Jonathan has worked tirelessly for the communities in his electorate, and he has now decided to leave politics for the next stage in his career. We sincerely thank him for his dedication and work with us, the Hub project, and the electorate as a whole.  We wish him the very best in his next career move.
 
Jonathan invited us to meet his intended successor for Davidson; three of our Committee members met with him and Matt Cross last week. Matt hopes to be elected to the Davidson seat at the election this Saturday.
 
Matt was very keen to hear about the Hub project, and Jonathan had given him some information before we arrived. As a Lindfield resident, he is keen to get more involved and, should he be elected, will do what he can to move the project along.
 
We gave Matt a run down on the history of the project, its ups and downs and the difficulties that Support Lindfield has experienced over the past 10 years. He is keen to learn more about it and to work with us.

There has been silence from Council lately as Council staff are now in the stage of negotiating with “Proponent A” and no information is available for the community as Councillors continue to be prevented from communicating with us. Whenever we get further information, we will, of course, pass it on to you.

Lindfield Village Green Progress Shots

Now that the Lindfield Village Green is complete, we would like to share some progress shots from along the way!

BEFORE: April 2020, the carpark before the Lindfield Village Green construction begins

September 2020, the foundations are being dug out and piers sunk. Poor Runaway Spoon!

October 2021, carpark construction almost complete. Starting on the earthworks and landscaping.

AFTER: February 2022, the park is completed and opened to the public. Water fountains are running, but the Olea cafe fitout continues.

Community Participation Plans... and more

We have long complained about Council's lack of transparency throughout this project (since 2013 when it started!).  It's not getting any better, in fact it's getting worse.  They don't even respond positively to GIPA (freedom of information) requests and we then have to submit our requests via the State Government  We are not alone in this regard.  In recent "Your Say" letters in the North Shore Times from Michael Tan and Jeremy Lowther, they complain about lack of transparency and feedback from residents.

Allison Hendricks, a Killara resident and expert in stakeholder relationship management, did a comparison of Community Participation Plans for four metropolitan Councils, including Ku ring gai.  It makes for interesting (but not surprising) reading.  Click on this link to read the report and see how our Council lines up. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/community-participation-plans-evaluating-four-allison-hendricks

Other news from Ku ring gai.....

  • Construction on the new parking station and Lindfield Village Green is scheduled to start 28 April when the parking lot will be closed for 18 months.

  • Council elections which were originally scheduled for September 2020 have been postponed until September 2021. 

  • Tenders for the Lindfield Village Hub are due to close on Friday 3 April.  No date is published by Council when the successful developer will be announced.

As always, we welcome your comments and questions to info@supportlindfield.net