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 MEDIA RELEASE 15-10-02 MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RE: COMMUNITY PICKET OF ‘GULLY’ DEVELOPMENT BEGINS Local community groups and residents today will picket the development of a 1.9-hectare bush land site in Highgate Hill. The local community has been vocally opposed to the development because it will destroy a vital social and environmental space for inner city residents. The community has been fighting the development of the site for many years with little support from the council who have failed to protect the site despite massive support for the site to be saved. The ‘Gully’, as it is known, is frequented by up to 70 species of birds and provides vital habitat for other animals and plants. ‘This is just another example of how the local community is being sacrificed at the hands of developers’ says Brendon Radford member of the Gully Action Group ’Places such as the ‘Gully’ are symbolic of the area and provide important community spaces for people to get in touch with nature. Its important to have bush land in the inner city as a way of encouraging people to appreciate these kind of habitats whilst providing essential ecosystem services’ The local area currently does not even meet the BCC guidelines for public parkland. With the population of West End expected to double under council plans the future liveability and sustainability of West End is being threatened. There is also anecdotal evidence that building materials where transported from a site at Southbank some years ago and dumped as fill in the Gully. Residents fear that existing fill may be contaminated with substances such as asbestos. As the fill is required to be removed this could potentially put residents and workers at risk. The community is calling on the council to stop the development as it is not in line with community values in the area and will significantly reduce its cultural and environmental sustainability. The development will see more than 50 000 cubic meters of fill dumped into the Gully site. The community will do whatever it takes to stop the development.
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