Transport for NSW delaying Rozelle Parklands handover
Monday 24 February 2025
Media release
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne
Inner West Council has now adopted the Rozelle Parklands Masterplan and is ready to take on control of the site, but Transport for NSW are needlessly dragging the chain in finalising an agreement for care, control and management of the parklands.
More than a year after the park was opened to the public, the transport agency is still refusing to allow local sporting clubs onto the playing fields and have yet to present an agreement to Council that would allow transfer of the site to the local community.
The agreement is to be based on Council managing the Rozelle Parklands, including recurrent maintenance costs, in return for a grant from Transport for NSW of $20 million to improve facilities at the parklands and nearby parks.
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said that despite the deal having been made more than a year ago, Transport is still continually delaying community access to the site.
“It’s beyond ridiculous that 12 months since the park opened, Transport for NSW is still preventing local kids from kicking a soccer ball or having a hit at cricket on the Rozelle Parklands,” Byrne said.
“We have been continuously trying to have this escalated within the Transport bureaucracy but keep meeting with endless red tape and needless delays.
“Now we have finalised and adopted a masterplan for the parklands but Transport still can’t provide us a with a complete and final agreement to sign.
“After the asbestos saga and all of the other problems at Rozelle Parklands, you would think Transport for NSW would get their act together so that we, as a Council, can start managing and improving the Parklands for our community.
“After all, this park is meant to be the compensation for our community following nearly a decade of impacts from WestConnex construction.
“We’ve discovered now that the agency seemingly wants to transfer liability and risk for the contaminated ground underneath the parklands to our community and there’s no way we will be agreeing to that.
“Worse still, it seems that Transport officials are using local children as negotiating chips to try to force Council to sign on to an agreement that would rip our community off.”
“I call on Transport for NSW to prioritise the health and welfare of local kids and let them on to the parklands for sporting use immediately.”
Dispute between Council and Transport for NSW (TfNSW) officials include:
- TfNSW requires Council to take on all the risk of the existing contamination and responsibility for the contamination cap across the parklands, even if there is an event/incident not caused by Council.
- The proposed agreement states that the $20 million to be paid to Council in funding Council's activities on the land and surrounding parks will be managed through a separate funding agreement which has not been provided.
- The proposed agreement and its terms are more like a lease agreement rather than a Care, Control and Management Agreement because it deals with rights as landlord and a tenant rather than handing over the parklands to Council to take care, control and management.
- The Ausgrid site and construction compound located within the parklands and the “Western Harbour Tunnel Egress” as part of the Western Sydney Tunnel Project were only recently revealed and are undefined in terms of their scope and impact on the Park.
- A term in the proposed agreement allows that TfNSW to carve out by Gazette Order, at any time, any part of the Parkland at its discretion, and Council cannot oppose the carve out.
- The agreement requires, on short notice, that users of the sporting fields must vacate if and when TfNSW needs to access these areas.
Ends
For media enquiries please contact Jonny Browne, Jonny.Browne@innerwest.nsw.gov.au