Sydney Metro City & Southwest enters new consultation round
The New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment has begun a new consultation round that has been triggered due to an updated scope on the section of the new metro line between Sydenham and Bankstown.
Transport for New South Wales has prepared a Preferred Infrastructure Report (PIR) which "provides a description of changes as the result of community comment since the exhibition of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)."
The PIR lists a station-by-station comparison of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project, as it was described during the EIS period, with the preferred option which has taken previous consultation rounds into account and now crystallised in the PIR.
For instance, at Dulwich Hill, when the project was exhibited as part of the EIS, the existing station entrance was to be removed and the platforms rebuilt, however as part of the preferred project, the existing station entrance would be retained and upgraded as well as the heritage platforms would be re-levelled.
Likewise, at Wiley Park, originally in the EIS the station entrance would be removed however in the PIR it is set to be retained with heritage platforms to be re-levelled just like at Dulwich Hill.
Most of the stations between Sydenham and Bankstown would see the same kind of scaled-back changes except for Bankstown itself.
As it will be the interchange station between Sydney Metro and Sydney's suburban trains, it will still see a significant amount of work carried out on site.
The Preferred Infrastructure Report outlines that all the works at Bankstown that were exhibited as part of the EIS process remain the same with the exception of a shared path component within the station precinct that will no longer be preferred.
David Gainsford, the Department of Planning and Environment's Executive Director for Priority Projects is calling for the community to get involved once again. "We encourage the community to have its say on the revised proposal and provide important feedback on this public transport project."
To view the Preferred Infrastructure Report and other associated documents, and to lodge a submission, see majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au.
The Department is also handling the strategic planning for the priority growth areas and precincts which has thus far culminated in a draft strategy for the region.