Monday, 25 August 2008
The developer, Harold Finger and Woolworths have lodged an appeal in the Land & Environment Court.
The proceedings were listed for directions before the Registrar of the Land and Environment Court on 20 August 2008 . The appeal has now been fixed for hearing from 24 November to 27 November 2008. Orders were also made in relation to the preparation of expert evidence and joint conferencing. Further information relating to the conduct of the hearing and residents opportunity to address the Court with their concerns will be provided shortly.
We will keep the site updated. CHECK OUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT UNDER BUTTON 4 " The Next Steps " TO THE RIGHT.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has rejected Woolworths' proposed acquisition of the Karabar Supermarket in Queanbeyan, New South Wales. The competition watchdog said the acquisition of the supermarket by Woolworths would likely substantially lessen competition in the local area surrounding the store. "The ACCC had strong evidence to suggest that in the absence of the acquisition by Woolworths, the supermarket would instead be acquired by an independent operator, Supabarn, which has intentions to expand the supermarket to operate as a full-line supermarket in strong competition with Woolworths and other supermarket operators," said ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel
"The ACCC found that Supabarn supermarkets offer a different proposition to existing operators in the local market and considered that this would lead to increased consumer choice, as well as competition between supermarket operators on a number of factors including price, range, service, and product quality and freshness."
Erskineville is the Winner
CLICK ON THE BUTTON TO THE RIGHT " REASONS FOR REFUSAL " FOR FULL DETAILS
City of Sydney Council, under delegated authority has rejected the two storey Woolworths supermarket Development Application on The Hive site, Erskineville Road, Erskineville / Newtown.
We wish to thank all those many thousands who have supported our campaign, it has been a long hard fight, but it is very gratifying that People Power and the true facts have prevailed.
We face many challenges in our area to protect our village way of life. The future of the Tram Sheds, PYC Site, The Hive site, Service Station ( when it is sold ), The Imperial Hotel, the continued rejuvenation of Erskineville Village, management of the increasingly invasive traffic to the north of Erskineville Road, they will all impact on our way of life, and these issues need to be empathetically managed.
This is our communities reaction to City of Sydney Council’s decision on Monday 19 May 2008 to refuse the Woolworths Two Story Supermarket Development Application
“Congratulations! This is fantastic. Thanks for doing a wonderful thing “
“Such a great campaign, thanks for putting in so much work and long hours, guys.”
“Congratulations on getting all of us to this important victory “
“Sounds good. You have worked hard for your community and the celebration is well deserved.”
“I am writing to congratulate all of you on your hard won victory against Woolworths. During the past months I visited your web site often and have had quite a number of telephone conversations with Councilor Marcel Hoff. (I am not one who joins committees or groups but I do admire others who do so.) I am aware of just how much work went into your campaign; Councilor Hoff spoke highly of how organized and committed you all are. I also know that Councilor Hoff was strongly committed to supporting your community and the Friends of Erskineville. All of you deserve congratulations.”
“And thank you for all of your amazing dedication, energy and effort. We hope the Imperial Hotel can also be brought round to respect the rights of residents to live in a peaceful, pleasant environment without 24-hour noise and traffic.”
“Congratulations to all the organizers. It takes a lot of commitment and energy and sacrifice to continue such a campaign. It is a brilliant and very justified victory.”
“Good news! It is heartening to have another win on the development front in the face of commercial pressure.”
“Fantastic! Congratulations, and here's to winning any further fights that may lie ahead. “
“Excellent work to all involved. “
“Congratulations..!!!People power doesn't start without some great people to head the movement. I'm proud to be living in such a great neighborhood.”
“Well done”
“It restores ones faith in Local Government when logic and reason prevails”
“Many thanks”
“Absolutely wonderful. Thank you for all your hard work!!! What a perfect outcome!!”
“Congratulations!!!! Your hard work has benefited the whole community. It proves that we live in a great community where people actually care.”
“Just wanted to say what a great outcome for all us locals!! Maybe you can get them to hurry up on that bridge over Erskineville Rd now! “
“Thanks to you all for organising all this. I was on a similar action group in the late 70's and early 80's when we had the road closures etc.. good to see the energy around the place!”
“Congratulations on the great result. Many thanks for your hard work and coordinated effort to protect Erskineville village, it is much appreciated.”
“Well done, Friends of Erskineville Village”
”I was really impressed with your applications to the council, and it was very interesting to read how they came to their decision.”
”I'd like to say a big thank you, for your hard work and determination, and another big thanks to the people of Erskineville and surrounding suburbs, for their support and contributions, and for letting our council know they care about what happens in our local area. (Whether it was for support or opposition of the proposal, people cared, and the council had to take notice.) “
“Thank you so much - hopefully that is the end .....”
“Your effort and work is greatly appreciated by this resident in Rochford Street.”
“best wishes”
“Congratulations and thank you for all the hard work you and the team did to get this application refused. It’s a fantastic result.”
“What a great piece of news. Well done to those who worked so hard – it is so rewarding for us all.”
“Congratulations you have worked so hard for Erskineville and we can’t not thank you enough. We live right next door to the BP and Imperial and it already is such a huge impact on our daily lives, so thank you for looking after our community rights”
“Congratulations to the key players! What a great victory. It makes me proud to call Erskineville my village.”
“ Congratulations and well done. I’m very pleased such an inappropriate development has been refused by council officers.”
”Don't close the book yet though. The proponent can appeal the decision. Let’s keep our antennae up in case this happens and we have to fight again.”
”Thanx for all your efforts.”
“Well done, that’s fantastic.”
“Congratulations team, what a win this is!”
“Thanks a million for kicking in the hard yards for the community!”
“Respect!”
“Best news I have heard in a very long time! Congratulations for all the hard work you guys put into organizing ways a we could support you!”
“Thank you all so much for all the hard work which resulted in this success.”
”Thank you for all the hard work and for your achievement on behalf of Erko residents, now and in the future!”
”Well done and congratulations!!!!”
Congratulations, and thank you, for leading a well-orchestrated campaign. “
“Congratulations and thank you to Friends of Erskineville Village. The coordinators provided exceptional leadership in this campaign. Thank you again”
“Great work everybody! This is a huge relief.”
“An excellent result, thank you so much for your efforts!!!!!!! What a great community we live in. “
“Thanks, congratulation. That is a good relief. It is so thankful. It is bad enough with all the commercial development these days. It would be a worse scenario to have a two storey Woolworth store. Just imagine the traffic congestion and rage of people. The next step is for the old Tramshed @ Newtown. I like to see this preserve and restored for a good use to the environment. Please keep me updated with this.”
“Fantastic result!”
“Well done to the Friends of Erskineville for all your hard work.”
“WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!”
“Well done- that is fantastic news! Thank you so much for your efforts- I really didn’t think that practicality would prevail over corporate pennies! How totally refreshing.”
“Well done!! Thank you for all the efforts. “
“Congratulations, very happy about the outcome. Will support any challenges as they occur. “
“Congratulations on a well fought battle.”
“Well done! For all your hard work!”"
Well done to all involved. A fantastic result."
“ A huge congratulations. As a new resident in the area we are so delighted that Erskineville will stay the same. It's village feel and wonderful sense of community is why we bought here in the first place. Look forward to other Friend events. “
“Thanks for the hard work, that is great news. As you say, there are more battles ahead, in particular the Imperial Hotel expansion which is currently with council. There is a community meeting organised this Sunday (25th May 4pm at Joseph Sargent Centre) and it would be wonderful if Friends of Erskineville village could get behind this cause too.”
“Congratulations to the organisers. “
“Wow Congratulations! The power of the people! Brings back some faith in the system,”
”Cheers for your efforts,”
” CONGRATULATIONS!! I am thrilled! You deserve a medal for such an intelligent, thorough, energetic campaign. Thank you so much for your hard work.”
“Congratulations guys!!! A fantastic victory for residents. It was great to help out in our small way!!”
” Well done guys - a brilliant effort. Thanks for you commitment to the cause - it is of course much appreciated by all Erko residents.”
” Well done. Great news And I commend you on your energy”
"Great job, you guys! Thanks for making it happen."
“That's very good news. Well done all around.”
“Yeah”
“Great news!!!! Thanks for all the hard work.”
“ FANTASTIC!!!! GREAT GOING... KEEP THAT CHARMING VILLAGE AS IT IS."
"Congratulations, it was a well run campaign.”
"As a business owner would like to thank you all, for your hard work regarding this matter and welcome the council decision. Hope to be of any assistance in the future. “
“Oh my God! That is such excellent news.”
” I am so proud that we could make a difference. This is such a great result for our community.”
“Thank you so much for all your efforts in this campaign.”
"Wooooohooooo thanks so much for fighting for us all!!! power to the village people :-)”
“Congratulations are in Order,”
“You Guys deserve all the accolades, for persevering against gargantuan odds.”
”Congratulations you beauties and beasts of burden. Many thanks from us in “rural and regional “ Australia. “
“Excellent news! I am sure I express the views of a lot of local residents in thanking your organisation for fighting to preserve our neighbourhood.”
“We share your desire for empathy.”
“Thank you to making this a achievement that was so worth while, Kelly and the flower shop gang.xxxxxxxxxxxxx “
“That's absolutely wonderful news. Thanks so much for all your efforts.”
“Congratulations to all you hard working residents. A victory for Erskineville to remain a village and a decent future for the lovely small businesses in the
village i.e. deli, Floral Decorator, cafes etc. I'm grateful that Woolies has lost."
“ Wow, congratulations -fantastic news - well done!!! Let's hope they don't appeal to the LEC - or donate to Sartor. Any thoughts about who might be helpful in terms of combating traffic use of our street, Charles Street, would be most welcome. We're trying to reduce the amount of cars using that return along Wilson Street - we're lobbying council at the moment - and have a meeting with Tony Pooley about it - but if you can discretely point out who was most welcoming regarding community action in Erko we'd be grateful. We're tired of being the racetrack and getting abused by people treating our street like a main road,”
“It is very exciting and encouraging to see that someone is listening.” “We have our own battle in Charles Street … trying to get resident parking permits (we used to have them but the signs disappeared overnight). People park their cars and take the trains, plus we are the only street without restricted parking! People are using Charles Street as a short cut and I have been living on Charles Street for 13 years and it is getting worse.
No one stops at the STOP sign (Charles and Albert) … extremely dangerous for pedestrians. We gave the City of Sydney some solutions in order to improve the traffic flow …we will continue the battle.”
“No, thank you for keeping the campaign effort direct and focused. “
“My sincere gratitude.”
“Congratulations to all involved, A great victory.”
“Will you please pass on to all the people who have done so much work congratulations and thanks”
“Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work!”
“That is so very cool ..... if only 'people power' could get rid of Frank Sartor and his other corrupt mates.”
”Well done. You must be immensely proud - and so very deservingly so.”
“Thank you and well done!”
“Well done for the effort.”
“Fantastic news! Well done, good work!”
“Thank you for all your hard work, on behalf of us.”
“Excellent news, congratulations to the whole team and the suburbs residents for their efforts in stopping this development.”
“Great news! That is really wonderful Thanks very much for all your hard work in coordinating this on behalf of all local residents. We really appreciate all your hard work, and wonderful to see it has paid off! “
“Fantastic news!”
Our community has spoken out, these are the statistics, at Monday, 30 June 2008
200 Plus Attended Community Meeting
1,136 Website Unique Hits
202,530. Website Total Hits
4,373 Village Petition Signatures
633 Online Petition Signatures
1,88o Database of residents
1,567 SMS Database
292 Individual letters written to Council
79 Individual letters written to Woolworths
Why are we concerned?
The supermarket will result in:
- increased traffic, trucks and parking problems - reduced safety for cyclists and pedestrians - increased noise, air and visual pollution - loss of local businesses - loss of unique village atmosphere.
All Erskineville will be affected, including your street. Is this the village you want?
We thought that resident Christen Cornell’s contribution neatly sums up our view.
“I always thought some smart council spark had made Erskineville difficult to drive around in order to protect its village feel. One way streets, road blocks - aren’t they all there to make Erko a haven for residents, kids and pedestrians? The strategy has WORKED, so why ruin the design now? People move here to avoid cars and shopping malls; I like walking to the shops and knowing the names of the people who own and run them, and I’m happy to pay slightly more to support small local business. Neighbourhoods like this are rare, and people are coming to appreciate them more and more. I don’t understand why you’d jeopardise all that, especially at a time when Sydney City Council is getting conscious about how to make our city more livable. This development would make the traffic down Erko Rd even worse (and it’s already a problem) and so would mean more cars in the backstreets. It just seems impossible to me. I’d like to know what an impact study would say”
Take care
Friends of Erskineville Village
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