Rosehill No Vote a Gift Horse Loss for the West
Leading advocacy group the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue called the decision by Australian Turf Club members to walk away from the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide desperately needed homes in Sydney’s west and safeguard the future of racing a sad loss for the region.
Dialogue Chairman Christopher Brown AM has labelled today’s ‘no’ vote as lamentable and short-sighted.
“This is a lamentable outcome. The 11,000 members of the ATC were sadly swayed by a cynical and selfish campaign from wealthy horse breeders, who looked a gift horse in the mouth and said no,” Mr Brown said.
“Their short-sighted decision means the loss of 25,000 potential homes for a booming part of Western Sydney and the loss of funds to futureproof the racing industry for generations to come.
“It also sees the end to a new station on the Metro West line, the chance to build a great new entertainment precinct at Rosehill and plans to upgrade Warwick Farm as a major racecourse in Liverpool.
“The Rosehill redevelopment proposal to deliver a magnificent new urban precinct on the edge of the Parramatta CBD, enabled by a metro station, was a bold and brave vision. Full praise goes to ATC Chair, Peter McGauran and NSW Premier Chris Minns, who both saw a unique opportunity for sustainable urban renewal.
“This makes the need to find solutions for a housing crisis that is particularly impacting Western Sydney all the more urgent. GWS has a total housing target of more than 150,000 homes over the next five years. We need to take the shackles off to get there.”
Following the failure of the Rosehill proposal, the Dialogue Chairman called for renewed focus on greater residential density around the metro stations at Parramatta and Westmead, and a revised Sydney Olympic Masterplan to be “the future Western Sydney needs”.
“Sydney Olympic Park’s redevelopment is our opportunity to create a golden future, with housing, infrastructure and amenity that will transform the 430-hectare site from an event destination into an integrated, connected and liveable city,” Mr Brown added.
“It should be Australia’s first high-rise suburb, with thousands more homes surrounded by parklands, smart jobs, universities and tourism attractions.
”The new masterplan is not ambitious enough and risks continuing the park’s mediocre performance over the past quarter century. As we approach the 25th anniversary of the precinct, we want to see it finally emerge as the entertainment, lifestyle, residential and commercial dynamo it was originally intended to be, with more private sector input, less bureaucracy and many more people living, working, studying and playing onsite.
“With the coming metro station and the demise of the Rosehill proposal, we need to ensure that Olympic Park can deliver the homes, jobs and infrastructure we need, including the RAS’s Western Sydney Convention Centre plan, to meet the needs of a booming Western Sydney community.
“This would be a true legacy of the 2000 Games, of which all of Australia could be proud,” said Mr Brown, who grew up working in the old Homebush abattoir.