In this edition: Meet the Candidates for Local Government Elections on September 9th.
The Beecroft Cheltenham Civic Trust's new Website,
Sundial for Beecroft Village, Beecroft & District Garden Club,
President's comments.
Meet the Candidates night 29th August Beecroft Bowling Club
7pm for 7.30pm start.
The local government elections have received quite a lot of media
attention over the past week so the Trust has taken the initiative to
invite the candidates standing in the new Epping Ward in Parramatta City
Council as well as candidates standing in Hornsby Council’s C Ward .
There are likely to be 15 speakers on the night. A tall order for
any moderator.
The order of speaking will be the order shown on the Electoral Commission Website https://candidates.elections.nsw.gov.au/.
The invited speakers taken from the above web site are, Mayoral Candidates for Hornsby Council – Janelle McIntosh, Christine Berman, Mick Gallagher, Emma Heyde and Philip Ruddock. C Ward Candidates for Hornsby Council – Vincent Del
Gallego, Monica Tan No2 for Emma Heyde, David Mitchell, Justine Smillie
and Michael Hutchence. Epping Ward Candidates for Parramatta Council - Ronghui Wang, Donna Davis, Bill Tyrrell, Lindsay Peters and Lorraine Wearne.
The President will provide a short review of the Trust’s dealings with
our two local councils over the past term. The Mayoral candidates
for Hornsby will be invited to speak first, followed by the Number 1
candidates contesting the two wards. All speeches will be strictly
limited to 3 minutes. Then there will be a Q&A for all candidates together as there may be issues raised that more than one candidate may wish to speak on.
We Look forward to meeting our prospective councillors and having a chat over supper at the end of formalities.
The Trust’s new website - bcct2119.com.au The
committee has finally been able to get our website operating
again. There have been a number of technical issues that have had
to be sorted out. The best solution for us, has been to create a
new website www.bcct2119.com.au.
We have populated the new site with many of the recent activities
related to our community. Email contacts on the new site have also been
updated. The former web address 2119.org.au has been linked to our new www.bcct2119.com.au website.
Visit our newwww.bcct2119.com.au. We would appreciate your feedback, as after all it is your website.
Sundial opening this Saturday 26th August,
at noon in the Beecroft Village Green A
short reminder that the new sundial in the Beecroft Village Green will
be officially unveiled this Saturday at noon by our own C Ward
Councillor, Bernadette Azizi. It is likely to be Councillor
Azizi’s last official engagement before she steps down as one of our C
Ward councillors. The Trust wishes to take this opportunity to
thank her for serving the residents of Beecroft and Cheltenham over the
past 5 years. She will be officiating on behalf of the Mayor Steve
Russell, who is unavailable.
Beecroft & District Garden Club Beecroft
& District Garden Club Inc will hold its Monthly Meeting for
September at the Beecroft Club, 128 Copeland Road, Beecroft on Friday, 1st September 2017 commencing at 7.30 pm for an 8 pm start.
The speaker will be Stuart Read – Chief Officer - State Heritage
Assessments Team, The Australian Garden History Society and his
Topic: 35 Years of Historic Gardens.
This is a friendly club. Visitors welcome. Cuttings and
potted plants for sale (please bring reusable bags). Supper
provided.
Details: Susan Mordy - 9875 3127.
President’s comments on the local government
elections on September 9th. The council amalgamation process has not
helped our Civic Trust. Like the Metro and ETTT projects we knew the
amalgamation agenda was outside our control and regardless of our views
we knew the State Government was determined to proceed. So we sort out
compromises to minimise any adverse impacts on our local community.
However, now with the current arrangement we are stuck with a sizable
20% of the Trust’s residents within Parramatta Council and 80% remaining
within Hornsby Council. We now have two councils to deal with. A large
task when the Trust has limited resources with a committee of
volunteers.
The Trust is in regular contact with Hornsby Council because it is
business as usual. We regularly attend council meetings, get involved in
council initiated community events and often assist concerned residents
with Development Applications.
To date the Trust has had no interaction with new Parramatta City
Council. If the current LGA boundaries remain then this must change over
time for the Trust to remain relevant to our residents south of the M2.
This means that residents within the Parramatta LGA must join the
committee and take an active role. The community makes the Trust what
it is and always will. We currently have two vacancies and would
dearly welcome another resident to come along to share their views as
part of the committee.
I believe it is important for residents to be able to reflect on the
activities the Trust has been involved in with our councillors at
Hornsby Council, over the past 5 years. We have had some wins, some
compromises and inevitably some losses. Some of the largest
changes have been driven by State and Federal Government, including the
Nort West Rail Link, the ETTT train freight line and the Northconnex.
A transport infrastructure triangle squeezing Beecroft and
Cheltenham. Other activities include the rezoning of the Beecroft
shopping precinct, changes to the planning controls, over 10 seniors
housing developments, the Beecroft Road pedestrian bridge, the
pedestrian lift at the train station, the contentious Malton Road
developments, the changes to the tree preservation order, the 10/50
vegetation code, Epping Pool, the Beecroft Gardens redesign and the sale
of the former Church in Cheltenham. No doubt I have missed some.
Finally, the new Beecroft Shopping Centre, located in a heritage
precinct, is nearing completion. With time we tend to forget what
the former Module shops were like with its sloping car park and the
Westpac bank on the corner and the Shell service station facing Beecroft
Road. This picture was taken last week from the heritage listed
St John’s Church located on the other side of Beecroft Road. The
final touches to the new ‘Beecroft Place’ is nearing completion with new
footpath paving and the new Telco ‘box’ on top directly above the
heritage listed Garden Clinic building. We are told that new
development in a heritage precinct should not be intrusive, preferably
contributory, at worst neutral. I will reserve my judgement and
allow you to make up your own mind whether this development will
withstand the test of time and be the ‘place’ to meet in Beecroft.
Don’t forget to vote on Saturday 9th September.
Trust Spring Walk.
We always strive to make the walks interesting so this Spring Walk will
be slightly different. We are going further afield into the wilds
of Cherrybrook.
The location will be Trevors Lane off Purchase Rd. The date is Sunday 29th October from 2 – 4 pm. It’s an easy 90 minute walk with some interesting rock formations.
Trust Membership Subscriptions and eNews...
Keep our two suburbs strong and informed by being a member in 2017!
To renew your
membership for 2017, please send a cheque with your phone and
email details to PO Box 31, Beecroft 2119, OR credit our bank account directly:
BSB 062-113 10068238, using your name as a reference. Please also send an email totreasurer@bcct2119.com.au advising that you have updated your membership for 2017. Donations are also gratefully accepted.
Just a reminder that membership is due in April each year. For those who
have already paid, many thanks. Household Membership: only $20 per
year; Pensioner/Single Resident: $10 per year.
The eNews is becoming our main method for
disseminating information to the community. Currently we have over 1020
email addresses, up from 900 two months ago. We encourage
residents who receive the eNews to tell their neighbours and friends.
The eNews letter is available to all who subscribe. Trust
Membership is not a requirement.
At this stage, the Trust will continue to distribute the printed bulletin as not everyone uses the internet. We
are also looking for volunteers who like walking who may be able to
distribute approximately 100 Bulletins a couple of times per year, as
this is all done by kind members of our community. If you are able to
help out, even as an occasional fill in person, please contact trish@bcct2119.com.au.
The Trust has always had an unwritten policy to assist any resident regardless of their membership status.
