Update emailed from FoG on 25 November:
Photos showing loss of tree cover at Glenlee have been sent to Georges River Council, with requests that they use their powers under the local heritage order to protect the biodiversity of the site. Attached is a memo from Brian Ralston, President of Friends of Glenlee, about the issues and why it is now time to urge the State Minister for the Environment and Heritage, to take action.
As well as notifying Council of any unauthorised works at Glenlee (see below), we ask that you email Council with a copy to the Minister Penny Sharpe, urging Council to contact the Minister to give them authority to access Glenlee to inspect this possible damage to the site.
If you or any other member of the community has evidence regarding further unauthorised works or tree removal occurring on site you are encouraged to log a Customer Request with Council at any time, using Council’s Log It / Fit It portal, available on Council’s website: www.georgesriver.nsw.gov.au or by contacting Council’s Customer Service Centre on 9330 6400. This will ensure that your issue is logged and a response is provided directly without delay.
Also included was a paper from FoG President, Brian Ralston: Preserving Glenlee:
In February this year the Interim Heritage order over Glenlee lapsed. The reason for the lapsing was that assessments that were required to be considered had not been undertaken. The assessments had not been undertaken because the Council had no access to the site.
At a meeting in August 2023, attended by a number of councillors, the Minister Penny Sharpe, was urged to authorise representatives of the Council, under section 148 of the Heritage Act, to have access to Glenlee for the purpose of undertaking those assessments. The Minister, at that time, declined to make the authorisation, as she was not satisfied that the owners were intransigent in their refusal of consent. She did not suggest that she had no power to make that authorisation.
Following that meeting further attempts were made by the Council to obtain the consent of the then owners for access to the site. Those attempts proved fruitless, but before Council could pursue its request for authorisation the IHO lapsed. Meetings held with representatives of the department made it clear that it was unlikely that the department would consider reinstating the IHO even if the evidence that was lacking in the first interim order were now able to be obtained.
Linda and I had a subsequent meeting with the Minister at which she claimed that she had no power to grant the authorisation for access to the site. Her representative suggested that they had legal advice that the power only arose in the event of non-compliance with an existing order. Needless to say we were not provided with a copy of the legal advice. For what it’s worth I consider that construction of s 148 to be wrong and that the Minister has always had the power to authorise access. Nonetheless, by this stage the property had been acquired by the present owners, whose identity was not known at that time, and even had we been able to convince the Minister that she had the necessary power, she would no doubt have fallen back on her earlier decision to refuse to act, because it wasn’t clear that the new owners were being deliberately obstructionist. We were, however, assured that the local heritage order was sufficient protection for the site.
The FOG committee were not convinced that was the case, but we were assured, after a meeting with the Mayor and three members of the executive staff of GRC that they had wide powers under the order and would ensure that any owner of the property complied with its obligations under order.
Evidence has emerged over the last few days which raises concerns as to whether, and if so, to what extent, work has been carried out on the site and whether there has been any unauthorised clearing and removal of trees. We have raised these concerns with two councillors, Peter Mahoney and Matt Allison, who have been strong supporters of the “Save Glenlee” campaign and understand that they intend to ask Council to investigate. However, we are concerned at suggestions that Council are unable to enter the site to see if there has been any non-compliance with the existing order.
It is to be hoped that the Council will pursue once more the Minister’s authorisation for access to the site. In our view, the recently obtained evidence raises concerns as to whether there has been compliance, and as such is consistent with the department’s limited view of the extent of her power.
We would ask members to email the council to urge that it seeks the Minister’s authorisation of access to the site, and that the Minister be “cc’d” into the email.
Brian Ralston, President, Friends of Glenlee