The draft biodiversity strategy from the Inner West Council is a very positive development for Callan Park – and the urban environment. If the Council adopts it. .
Friends of Callan Park is broadly in support of the Draft Biodiversity Strategy 2036 recently advertised for public comment by the Inner West Council. In its recent submission the Friends of Callan Park seeks, not to amend it, but to reinforce it. We believe our suggestions are very much in the spirit of the strategy.
We particularly welcome the recommendation to make Callan Park a Priority Biodiversity Area.
In its first chapter the strategy is very frank and explicit about the dire situation we face as far as biodiversity and its supportive ecological context are concerned (see ‘Biodiversity in Urban Areas’ pages 9 and following ).
The draft strategy recognises the main threat to our still shrinking, remnant urban biodiversity:
Urban development is leading to the dramatic loss of urban biodiversity in NSW.
Land clearing, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and changes to microclimate,
lighting, and hydrology are some of the major development pressures
leading to a decline in urban wildlife diversity and abundance.
Later in the draft strategy this link is more explicitly drawn:
4.2 Urban Consolidation and Densification (page 29)
… Higher density, in-fill development typically reduces
the quantity and quality of habitat provided on private land.
The absolute imperative for the Inner West Council to put a stop to this urban ecocide is explicitly spelt out:
To protect biodiversity, urban authorities need to conserve existing habitat
and develop measures to reduce the ecological impact of new development.
Given the extent of the damage already done, the aim of ‘reduce the ecological impact of new development’ should read ‘prevent the ecological impact of new development’.
Our specific comments and recommendations follow:
1. Friends of Callan Park strongly support the strategy’s recommendation to make Callan Park ‘a significant biodiversity refuge’. (See pages 48 and 57)
2. We believe that the preservation and protection of Callan Park as a biodiversity haven rules out the installation of synthetic or plastic grass fields. Such fields reduce the ecological support for biodiversity and are sources of dangerous air and water pollution.
3. We endorse the strategy’s recommendation that Council’s management of green open space (such as Callan Park) should aim for multi-purpose, complementary, and ecologically benign uses:
Population growth and densification strengthen the need
to enhance the quantity and quality of habitat on Council-owned land.
Multi-purpose management of recreational land is an established trend
in open space planning. However, steps must be taken to ensure managing land
for biodiversity, and ongoing community uses, is complementary.
Designing multi-functional green spaces, where increasing habitat is
compatibly managed with other land uses, is an important role of Council.
The design and management of urban green space greatly affects
its capacity to support biodiversity and provide ecosystem services.
4. The strategy’s observation about the health of native fauna in the Inner West is confirmed by studies in Callan Park:
Most of the threatened species in the Inner West
have small populations and are extremely vulnerable to
urban development and other environmental threats. (Page 42)
5. Friends note with concern the continued reduction of ‘green space’ in the LGA (See page 27 for figures). According to the strategy, the Inner West now has the second lowest ratio of open space per resident in the Sydney area and faces a huge challenge to prevent the situation worsening:
Tree and shrub cover is declining in the Inner West (Figure 12),
and there is a clear shortfall in the provision of green open space.
In 2019, the Inner West LGA had the second lowest amount of per capita green space
in Greater Sydney. To keep up with population growth, and maintain the current standard,
Council will need to add substantially to the existing
stock of green space by 2036. (Page 29)
6. Friends concur with the strategy’s analysis that ties the reduction of green space and biodiversity-friendly areas to poorly regulated, or even unregulated, urban development. However, we believe the recommendation that Council ‘investigate’ planning controls to arrest this decline is not sufficient and the recommendation should be to ‘investigate and adopt’ such controls. We are intrigued as to why the list of subjects for these controls does not include the protection and expansion of tree canopy; we assume it is an oversight. (See page 57)
7. Friends applauds the aim of the strategy to fully involve residents (including First Nations residents and expertise) in the implementation of the strategy:
Inner West [Council] aims to actively include community as partners
in this strategy and see the Inner West Council’s residents,
visitors, workers and stakeholders working hand in hand to create
a more resilient, healthy and thriving Inner West
for now and future generations. (See pages 54 – 55)
8. A necessary mechanism for cementing this partnership with the community would be to open up and expand Council’s Environment committee and ensure the agenda for such meetings is widely notified.
9. The aim of partnering with First Nations and integrating their knowledge in a ‘caring for country’ approach as a core ingredient in the biodiversity strategy is strongly supported. (See 2.2 Biodiversity and Reconciliation, pages 16-17) We believe this should be supplemented by encouraging wider participation of all community members in ‘caring for country’. Limits to participation in Council environment committees and activities should be lifted, volunteering in bush regeneration such as the Callan Park Bushcare Group, especially at neighbourhood level, encouraged and the free distribution of appropriate native plants made a Council priority. In this connection, perhaps the ‘investigate’ in this recommendation of the strategy should be replaced with ‘implement’: Investigate the development of a Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design (BSUD) …
10. The crucial role of this active participation is underlined by the need to protect and expand under-storey, scrub areas in both our parks and backyards:
To support biodiversity, each vegetation layer is required.
Increasing the volume of native groundcover, shrub, and understorey vegetation
is one of the most effective ways to increase the diversity and abundance of urban fauna.
This type of vegetation is currently low and declining in the Inner West.
Between 2016-2020, shrub cover in the Inner West declined by 0.7%
to only 2.9% of the LGA.
Groundcovers and shrubs are the least common, and most degraded,
type of vegetation in the Leichhardt and Balmain wards’ green spaces.
These areas support the conservation of Endangered Ecological Communities (EECs)
and preserve an important part of the Inner West’s natural
and cultural heritage conservation. (Page 37-41 5.1 Flora)
11. We note the strategy’s commendable aim of an annual review and report on the progress of the strategy ‘with key actions and implementation plans assessed to determine targets’. We cannot see why this review should be ’internal’ only and recommend this annual evaluation, and actions arising out of it, be reported to Council for review and public comment.
12. Finally, we hope that the strategy’s assurance that IWC is committed to protecting and enhancing biodiversity indicates a genuine change of heart and is confirmed by future decisions:
Council is committed to working with the community
to develop innovative and collaborative responses that acknowledge
and protect the contribution biodiversity makes to the health, liveability,
and sustainability of the Inner West.
October 31, 2024