A new agency will work with Sydney local councils to revitalise and expand the city’s open spaces and parklands, the NSW State Government revealed last week.
NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes said the Greater Sydney Parklands (GSP) agency will bring together the Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust, Parramatta Park Trust, and Western Sydney Parklands Trusts, as well as the parklands of Callan Park and Fernhill Estate.
It will oversee more than 6000 hectares of parklands across Sydney.
Releasing a draft “50-year vision for the city’s network of parklands and green open spaces” to help develop a metropolitan-wide plan to guide the new agency’s work, Mr Stokes said: “In the past, the individual parkland trusts have had a sole focus on the land within their boundaries.
“Now we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to look beyond those boundaries to plan for our parklands and open spaces over the next 50 years as a connected and vital network that forms the backbone of our city,” Mr Stokes said.
The draft 50-Year Vision will be open for consultation until 11 September 2020.
As part of the makeover, the State Government will invest $10 million in revitalising Callan Park in Sydney’s inner west. To inform how the money is spent, a new Landscape Structure Plan has been released for public comment.
In related news, the Committee for Sydney and the NSW Government have launched a Public Space Ideas Competition.
Touted as an opportunity to “think about current spaces in need for transformation”, the competition will comprise five award categories and four additional awards. Competition entries will be accepted up until 28 August.
An award ceremony is expected to be held in October.