We have won the final stage; no two story supermarket will be built on The Hive site, Erskineville Road, Newtown / Erskineville.
Judgment was delivered in Artro Management Pty Ltd v Council of the City of Sydney at 9.30AM on 13 January 2009. Council was successful in persuading the Court that the development application did not comply with its instruments and would lead to unacceptable amenity impacts on the Erskineville Village area. The Development Application was refused and the appeal dismissed. For a copy of the judgment and the Court's reasons for refusing the development application, please ‘click’ on the button ‘Court Decision ‘to the right on this website.
village friends, the Friends of Erskineville Village wish to sincerely thank all our thousands of supporters in our community who have remained diligent, focused and committed since we began our campaign in August 2007 to stop this over development.
Erskineville is the Winner
Here are some moments from our celebration at The Rose of Australia Hotel, on Friday 23 January. We appreciated Councilor John McInerney joining our celebration.
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 through traffic on Erskineville Road, they will all impact on our way of life, and these issues need to be empathetically managed.
These are some examples our communities reaction to the decision to reject the Woolworths / Harold Finger Development Application to build a Two Story Supermarket on The Hive site.
Dear Friends of Ersko!!, Yeah!!! well done - a wonderful result and we couldnt be happier!!,i'll try and make the drinks on friday!
Many thanks for the update. I spend a great deal of my time overseas (currently in China) so have not been able to physically support the group/action as I would like. I am 100% excited about the outcome and want to thank everyone who has so diligently worked to achieve this. Thanks again, and I can continue to look forward to my home time in Erskineville WITHOUT the supermarket
First I would like to offer my congratulations for your victory and your dedication in achieving it! I have never been a huge fan of the Land and Environment Court having dealt with them in the past, to witness their denial (for once) of a developer’s aspirations is due to your own hard work and dare I say an economic crisis. Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the judgement was the inclusion on the developer’s side of a Professor who should know better (both intellectually and professionally). How shocking those academic standards have sunk so low! I do though, convey a word of warning, the courts decision has left the option of a smaller (1000 sqm) supermarket combined with a mixed retail open. Unless we want to end up with Aldi and a replica of Marrickville Metro on our doorstep we must remain vigilant! However I welcome the opportunity of thanking you all next Friday!
Well done to all, great news. Really impressed to see logic prevailed. Unreal outcome.....
brilliant!
HOORAY !!!!!!!!!!!! Finally, the L&E Court delivers a victory for common sense and the local community. I must admit I was skeptical about a win, but this is the absolute best news and a fantastic start to 2009.
Thanks and good onyer to all those who were at the forefront of this battle.
Thanks and thank you for your efforts in general.
Congratulations to all you hard working organizers! Job well done.
That’s great news, guys. Thank you for the good work you have put in.
Yippy ! well done
Hallelulia! (think I've spelled this incorrectly but who cares...) That's the best news I've heard in a long time, and a wonderful beginning to the New Year!
Congratulations to all who worked so hard - delighted it paid off and that Erko will retain its very special village atmosphere!
well done,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, hooray
Well done … that is a really great outcome and restores faith that the community can have a say. I am very impressed by the level of work and commitment that everyone has put into this project, and I wish to say THANKS VERY MUCH.
Just wanted to say a very big well done to all of you guys that have campaigned so tirelessly for this fantastic outcome, you should all be very very proud of yourselves
Your hard work in this is awesome cause has been a resounding success and I know that there are so many many people who are truly appreciative of your passion to get this over the line and with a favorable result. Unfortunately I won't be able to make your celebratory drinks (kids!) but if you are thinking of having a similar daytime celebration we’d love to give you a well deserved pat on the back!
Nice job guys, awesome
Congratulations for all your fantastic work! Best wishes
CONGRATULATIONS - what a victory over mindless corporate stuff. Wiil try to share a drink with you on the 23rd.
Great news. Thanks for all your hard work
Congratulations on all your hard work, in rallying us and keeping us in the loop PS I hear Woolies is building a small store next to Dan Murphy in Fountain Street, Alexandria - but that is a much better location
THIS IS WONDERFUL NEWS! THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMITMENT AND HARD WORK, Regina Heilmann, Artistic Director, PACT Theatre, Erskineville
YIPPEE – Pat yourselves on the back Friends of Erskineville.
How great. Good on you for all your hard work. Well done.
Congratulations!!
Thank you for all your persistence, hard work and dedication to the cause. Now you can all go and have lives again J
Congratulations! Janet Clayton, President, Newtown Precinct Business Association
YIPPEE – Pat yourselves on the back Friends of Erskineville.
Yeah, thank you so much for your dedicated efforts in maintaining Erko! And congratulations - it's is possible to win these things, but they do take enormous effort, and persistence. Again well done.
CONGRATULATIONS! You people have done an amazing job. As an property owner in that area - THANK YOU.
Fantastic news! Well done to the Friends of Erskineville Village. A brilliant and very well deserved result!
Thanks guys that’s fantastic news!!!!! Congratulations!!!
I'm jumping out of my skin going crazy here at work what a win for the community! What a way to celebrate 2009, thanks for all your hard work and focus team. RESPECT!
WELL DONE on this HUGE win!!
Galvanizing the community and being so dedicated was amazing - it means so much to the ' community' as a place to live.
Thank you for such a well organized action
Excellent news!!! You have been incredible in what you have been able to do to bring together and co-ordinate all us lazier folk. Well done!
A huge thank you from our family at 00 Gowrie Street, Newtown. We have all been out of Australia for a while and will not be back until Feb. 2009 so unfortunately we will not be there for the drinks. This has been a great example of community action and we really appreciate the time and commitment that many of you have put in to preserving our local environment, Best wishes and good luck to all for 2009,
Well done all.
This is what I wanted, and fought for.
It is especially sweet since a Councilor recently expressed the view to me that I shouldn't feel confident because he felt that Council would lose this one. Also, the 99% in favor of the developer article in the Glebe didn't exactly inspire any cause for excitement.
Sadly, this could also cause our friend Samuel Woolworths to fall out of his tree. May be we should be magnanimous in victory and invite him to the Rose to commiserate?? As they often say...unlucky 13 for some, but then all's fair in love and war. Happy Sydney Festival.
Thank you for all your efforts...our bit was easy..you guys made it happen. Thank you very much from a Gowrie street resident.
Excellent!
I no longer live in Erskineville (I used to live in 12 Albert St) but have followed this with great interest as like many others I believe that the
development would not have been a plus, but would have been detrimental to the village of Erskineville.Hats off to the Friends of Erskineville Village for mobilising the community and keeping them fed with the info they needed to keep at the developers every step of the way
That's fantastic news!
congratulations. this is wonderful. thank you so much for all your hard work and courage!
BRAVO!
Congratulations !! Thank you very much for all of your work
Congratulations. A realistic decision. Now can you guys give the Imperial Hotel a chance to prove itself in our community? I was there before all of us.
Congratulations!!!! without your persistence in this course we so would not have come to this conclusion. You’re amazing!!! Big pats on back and see you in the rose!
Congratulations guys - thanks for all your hard work on our behalves!
Congrats, well done. And thank you.
“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
You are invited to respond to any posts in this section. Please keep your posts civil, no bad language, no defamatory comments and no SPAM. If you don’t follow these simple guidelines we will remove your comments and ban you from access. We reserve the right to remove any posts we feel are inappropriate without any explanation.
- Editor.
» Read more