Letter to the editor: The Total Environment Centre recently congratulated the NSW state government and the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure on launching the new Blue Green Grid framework under the Sydney Plan.
For sustainability advocates such as the TEC, the framework meets a much needed call for a structural approach to managing Sydney’s rapid densification by prioritising green infrastructure, open space protection, and ecological connectivity.
Crucially, the policy establishes a dedicated Blue Green Grid Committee which is led by Greater Sydney Parklands and unites major state landowners like Sydney Water, Transport for NSW, and the Department of Planning. This initiative adopts the blue green grid as a central spatial organising measure to ensure higher-density living is balanced with liveability and access to nature.
The Blue Green Grid relies on Sydney basin’s numerous creeks and rivers to provide a natural linear framework to link all our greenspaces via active transport and democratise access to the water
However, high level policy often collides with local planning realities. While the new framework includes clear corridor categorisation, integrated infrastructure, and a three year prioritisation review process, recent development disputes highlight implementation concerns that threaten to unravel this vision, but also show how we can strengthen the process.
An example of this disconnect is the proposed State Significant Development at the old Kogarah Golf Club site. The proposal for a data centre and/or apartments sits right on the Cooks River, which is listed as a high-priority green corridor, thus directly undermining the Blue-Green Grid policy. Water NSW’s 40-metre riparian vegetated setback for major rivers needs to be applied within the Sydney Basin too, as it provides a uniform setback necessary for any blue green grid to work.
The larger question of why the original planning proposal positioned the parkland on the opposite side of the buildings, away from the river, is left unanswered.
Similarly, the integrity of the grid is threatened by how we define and construct “green space.” Such as the recent battle over the intended installation of synthetic turf at Callan Park right up against the proposed Iron Cove Bay Baths misses the ecological (and health) point of a blue-green grid.
These missteps serve as a stark warning for major urban renewal projects like Blackwattle Bay and White Bay. If the Blue-Green Grid is to be successful, development must not replicate these mistakes and must be enforced on the ground. Will the Blue Green Grid Committee be able to ensure its implementation?
