White Bay Cruise Passenger Terminal EA misses mark

The plans for the proposed Cruise Passenger Terminal at White Bay fail to connect with public transport and fail to address the needs of pedestrians and cyclists.

In December 2008 the NSW Government decided to permanently relocate the Darling Harbour No. 8 Cruise Passenger Terminal to facilitate and enhance the Barangaroo redevelopment project. In November 2009, its Passenger Cruise Terminal Steering Committee concluded that the preferred option was to construct a new purpose-built Cruise Passenger Terminal facility at White Bay Wharves 4 and 5.

With public submissions in response to the Environmental Assessment of the project closing today BIKESydney has opposed both the principle of siting a Cruise Passenger Terminal at the White Bay wharves and, separately, the specific scheme proposed in the Environmental Assessment for doing so.

The basis of our objection relates largely to the fact that key components of the Director-General’s  Requirements for the Proposal have not been addressed.

This notwithstanding, in the event that the Director-General deems the Proposal suitable to proceed, BIKESydney has also offered recommendations to address the deficiencies of the Environmental Assessment with a view to improving conditions for people who cycle.

In summary, these recommendations are that:

  • The Director-General should defer consideration of this Proposal until AFTER a Bays Precinct Masterplan has been completed;
  • The Director-General require the Proponent to provide a publicly-available Preferred Project Report which addresses the recommendations of this submission;
  • In doing so, the Director-General requires the Proponent to consult with local cycling advocacy groups such as BIKESydney, Leichhardt Bicycle Users Group (LBUG) and Bicycle NSW;
  • The EA should explicitly detail an integrated internal cycling and pedestrian network and its connection to the existing routes nominated in the City of Sydney and Leichhardt Council Bicycle Plans. Such connections should be made with, but not be limited to, Robert St, Buchanan St, Victoria Rd, Lilyfield Rd, City West Link, The Crescent, Quirk St, Anzac Bridge and the Glebe Island Swing Bridge;
  • The EA must be amended to explicitly account for the Principles and Actions outlined in Section 2.8 of the Glebe Island and White Bay Master Plan (SPC, 2000) as is required by the Director-General’s Requirements. Specifically, the Proposal must be amended to provide cycleway connections to the Leichhardt Bicycle network and “continuous public access along the edge of the Port”;
  • The EA be amended to explicitly indicate connections to public transport (including light rail) networks;
  • The EA must explicitly present an assessment of the Proposal’s role in facilitating a connection to the Greenway cycleway.

BIKESydney is a stakeholder of the White Bay Precinct which is situated on a major cycling and pedestrian corridor to the Sydney CBD, and itself only a short, walking and cycling distance from the CBD.

Part of BIKESydney’s motivation for submitting to the Environmental Assessment is to ensure that the corridor between White Bay remains open to accept future cycleways that may one day form provide an integral, off-road connection between the Glebe Island Swing Bridge and Iron Cove (ie, the northern end of the Greenway shared path).

You can view the project’s Environmental Assessment here.

You can view BIKESydney’s full response here.

November 15, 2011

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BIKESydney

Cycling in a liveable Sydney


Email: cityride@bikesydney.org

Phone:+ 61 2 8213 2437

PO Box M59 Missenden Road, Camperdown, NSW, 2050

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