The petition to the Mayor (link to Page) in March 2024 resulted in a detailed response from the Council outlining its bicycle program, Item 15 in the August Council meeting.
Not much has changed since then, we are still waiting on the Consultant’s report on priorities for new bike route, due April. Lilyfield Rd Cycleway plan is still to be revealed. A motion by Councillors to investigate Robert St (Rozelle) and Elizabeth St (Ashfield) was passed but are subject to all the usual delays of consultation, design, funding applications.
The Rozelle Parklands Masterplan ignored almost all issues raised by IWBC and other groups, although they did remove the recommendation to change the separated paths into shared paths.
The Darling St /Victoria Rd Rozelle Masterplan is still being withheld from public exhibition.
As a result the petition has been updated and Council still being urged to get on with it. The petition has 1718 signatures as at end of February 2025.
The new park on Lilyfield Road opened in 2024, on the site of the Rozelle Goods Yards. The park was built by Westconnex for Transport for NSW as part of the surface improvement works in the M4-M5 and Rozelle Interchange tollway project.
As well as an attractive place people might choose to ride to, the new park is a crossroads for a number of bicycle routes, such as the Lilyfield Rd connection to Anzac Bridge, Rozelle or Balmain to Annandale routes (Gordon St to Whites Creek, Annandale St via the Green Bridge and Light rail crossing) and Rozelle/Lilyfield to Glebe via the Green Bridge to Johnston St and The Crescent.
These bike routes were identified in the Westconnex EIS and Rozelle Interchang Urban Design Landscape Plan. Council or State Government were expected to ensure the connections were upgraded as part of overall Active Transport strategies. That is, Westconnex were to do the new paths through the park (and also some on Victoria Rd and The Crescent) and other authorities were to improve or establish new connecting routes. “To be done by others”, as stated in the UDLP Active Transport Strategy. This has been the problem, “the others” have been slow to move, given the UDLP was published in 2016.
The fight since then has been to firstly make sure the paths through the Parklands and on Victoria Rd and The Crescent (provided by Westconnex and TfNSW) are up to a high standard and then to get the connecting routes (provided by Inner West Council mostly) improved or new ones built.
The path through the Parklands from Ryan St is an excellent one, 5 m wide with pedestrians and cyclists separated, and the Victoria Rd underpass is a huge improvement on the old narrow footbridge over Victoria Rd. The Green Bridge across the City West Link to Annandale is also good, except the ongoing connections to Glebe are poor ( long wait to cross The Crescent), and there is no provision for cyclists on Johnston St.
IWBC submitted a list of defects to Westconnex and State Government that we think warrant attention. There was a Parliamentary Inquiry into the Rozelle Interchange, which supported some of our submissions.
Inner West Council had issues with the new Parklands as provided by Westconnex and TfNSW (the latter are still the authority in control of the Parklands), if IWC was to eventually take control of the land. IWC decided to do a Masterplan, which delayed any action on bicycle connections, particularly on the Lilyfield Rd Cycleway, which was being drawn up by a consultant. A draft plan that we supported was shelved and a new brief given to the Consultant, further delaying this ongoing (since 2016) saga.
We made submissions to the Masterplan in early 2024 and again in early 2025, which have largely been ignored in the final Draft plan. Central to our submission was that the Parklands should be an Active Transport park, with travel by foot, bike or public transport strongly encouraged.
The Masterplan was approved on February 18, 2025, with one amendment, to retain the separated path arrangement, which for some reason Council had decided to change to a shared path arrangement. We are hopeful of a meeting with Council to go through our submission and see if anything can be added to the Masterplan.
The Lilyfield Rd Cycleway draft plan should now be revealed and put on public exhibition, so we can finally see how it connects to the new park. A major issue is the lack of a pedestrian and bike crossing on Lilyfield Rd at Ryan St, so east bound cyclists can turn into the park more safely. Despite the park being opened for over a year nothing was done to make the right turn across traffic safer.
Other issues are the decision by Inner West Council to install 81 angle parking spaces along the park frontage, and remove the bike lane. we say this is hardly promoting Active Transport, and space could be found to retain a bike lane.
More on the Lilyfield Rd cycleway history, Rozelle Interchange and Victoria Rd can be found on bikeleichhardt.org.
In response to the Petition to the Mayor Council prepared a report for the meeting, Item 15, which has some useful information on current and future projects.
Neil Tonkin spoke in the allotted 3 minutes per person at the start of the meeting, again urging a greater effort on Active Transport.
Unfortunately the meeting was cancelled shortly after due to demonstrators occupying the chambers. shades of a previous meeting, abandoned due to a fire alarm!
Item 15 was passed by a subsequent meeting.
The Petition did galvanise action by Council, and the response is useful to know what the overall plans are. However, in March 2025 we are still waiting a Consultants report on what the priority new routes will be.
The petition is still open (link at top) so please sign!
Stage 1 of the Masterplan for Bays West area (White Bay, Power Station, Rozelle Railyards) was on exhibition in May 2022. The underground Metro West line will have a station entrance to the east of the Power Station, and there will probably be a large apartment block between the Metro station and the Anzac Bridge approach. The grain silos are to be retained.
Open space with a promenade is to be a feature along the harbour edge in White Bay infront of the silos, although the Cruise Terminal will remain.
The Metro Station and Power Station precinct will be a major node for a number of cycling routes, from the City via (it is hoped, not yet announced) the old Glebe Island Bridge, from Balmain via Robert St, from Victoria Rd, from Annandale and from the west via Lilyfield Rd and the new Railyard Park.
Note the 2040 vision shows a link under the Anzac Bridge approach to James Craig Rd and even a bridge across Rozelle Bay to Glebe!
We put in a submission on the importance of these bicycle links, and how some innovative thinking could lead to world class bicycle access to and through this area.
See post on latest developments at the White Bay Power Station. Placemaking NSW is responsible for the Power Station and public domain works and has received $17m funding for improved AT links in the precinct, including a path direct to the Power Station from the Anzac Bridge cycleway and the new Victoria Rd pedestrian underpass, something Bike Leichhardt has been calling for for years.
Elections coming around again. IWBC will be again asking candidates for their policies on cycling and Active Transport. We hope you will too, it’s important to let them know your wishes for safer cycling in the Inner West.
Bicycle NSW has a ready to sign pledge for prospective Councillors if they are reading this.
See the Manifesto we sent all candidates for the 2024 election. A comprehensive list of what councillors and Council can do to make cycling safer and more attractive.
What did they promise last time? see the ALP and Greens bike and Active Transport policies.
See Comments on this post for candidate responses (may not be comprehensive- best ask candidates yourself).
IWBC Advocacy Coordinator Neil Tonkin had the following to say in a recent letter to members.
As you know the Inner West Council election of councillors will take place on Sat 14 September 2024. It is important that all councillors realise the importance of building a comprehensive cycleway network in the Inner West. We have only to look at the City of Sydney to see how a network of bike routes allows many people to get about safely, sustainably and at low cost. It also makes our suburbs much more liveable if there are fewer cars about, with reduced traffic danger, noise, pollution and congestion. The key to making this happen is getting Councillors to direct council to implement the IWC Cycling Strategy and Action Plan. This means coming up with cycling infrastructure projects, getting them adopted by the community, funded and built. So far the current Council has not seen this as a priority and the traffic engineers have put minimal resources towards making this happen. Funding is available through Transport NSW Get Active grants. Funding is now also available for Active Transport from the federal Infrastructure Australia department. No funding was received by IWC in the current year. Inner West Bicycle Coalition and its member groups have tried their best to change this impasse, but the Labor majority council have not seen this as a priority. The Coalition isdeveloping a new election campaign and will be developing new material to assist in this process. I attach for your information our Building healthy & happy communities Policy Recommendations December 2021, developed for the 2021 IWC elections. Since 2021 we now have a good IWC cycling strategy (fine words), but a very weak action plan (actual approved routes), glacial progress on design and implementation of major cycling infrastructure projects, good support from The Greens and Independents, but only weak support from Labor councillors and consequently indifferent support from senior staff within council. State government has imposed on Inner West WestConnex, the Sydney Metro and Western Metro, with some bad and some potentially good outcomes for cycling. Transport NSW has also added new policies for promoting Active Transport such as prioritising walking and cycling in their Road User Space Allocation (RUSA) policy, and new speed limits policy allowing 30 K to be used, but they have not been effectively adopted across TNSW as can be seen in the final outcomes of projects like the Rozelle Interchange and no increase in Active Transport funding in the recent 2024/5 state budget.
Please read our policy document on Building Better Streets from 2021 and offer any suggestions you have for its improvement. We will be upgrading it in the coming weeks in preparation for meeting the new councillor candidates.
Council put out a Newsletter in July detailing community spending. There were three items relating to works for bicycles, two of which were old projects or ongoing projects funded by Westconnex or the State and Federal Government. Livingstone Rd expenditure on the recently completed cyclepath was basically remediation works to correct some poor construction, after many cyclists made complaints. At least Council did respond.
Mary St Cycleway – Sydenham Station to Mary St (Traffic) $1,320,435 (part of the Westconnex Active Transport requirement)
Greenway Active transport and biodiversity corridor from Cooks to Cove (Community Facilities) $25,890,000. (mostly State Govt, some initial funding from Council, also some Federal funds.)
No new projects appear to be ready for 24/25. IWBC will be asking the Managing Director Ryann Midei for a more detailed budget breakdown for the next four years, to see if any plans hidden away.
Inner West Council and the State Government have come up with a plan to make the default speed limit on most Inner West roads 40 KM/hr . They say some 30 K zones will be considered. The State Roads and Classified Roads that are now 50 or 60 K are proposed to remain at 50 or 60, despite many not being up to standard with regard to cycling infrastructure, and a trend to changing 60 to 50 on State roads over the past ten years. Most serious injuries occur on these higher speed roads. [Some 60 Km/h roads have recently been lowered to 50, see Note below]
Worldwide the move is to 30 K urban default speed limit, following a UN Special Declaration in 2020 after the Stockholm World Road Safety Conference, which Australian Ministers or delegates signed. Many cities in Europe have adopted 30 as the default speed limit, including London, Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, Amsterdam.
Wales has adopted 20mph (32K) throughout. There are exceptions for main highways and certain other major roads with good cycling facilities, but most roads, including residential and shopping, are 30.
IWBC made a submission, criticising the proposal on a number of grounds.
Council did not make any substantial changes to the proposal and it was adopted at a recent Council meeting. We are disappointed that several key bike routes will remain 50 or 60 K, and the 30 K option is to be only considered on a limited number of roads.
Further information on the benefits of 30 K speed limits can be found on Bicycle NSW, betterstreets.org.au, and 30please.org.
Some State Roads in Marrickville and Petersham with a 60 K limit have been recently made 50 K. It seems Council staff were not happy with the retention of existing 60 K limits and TfNSW have changed their minds. Good work! (but 40 would be better on Railway Terrace, which has a bike path. Sydenham Rd should be 50.
With growing dissatisfaction at the lack of action on new cycleways IWBC members have started a Petition to the Mayor on getting on with design and construction.
The petition was delivered to Council in May and Councillor Dylan Griffiths (Greens) proposed a Notion of Motion supporting the action items in the petition. A fire alarm emptied the Council meeting in May before it could be considered, and it was rescheduled for the Extra meeting on June 4, at the Council chambers in Ashfield.
Result: Council passed the motion unanimously. Thanks to Clr Griffiths fir proposing the motion and to Clr Stephens (Labor) for his support.
There was an IWBC bike ride to the May Council meeting and several riders spoke in support of the motion, before the fire alarm!
Another ride was planned for June 4, to keep up the pressure on Councillors, but unfortunately no speakers allowed this time- we had our chance first time around apparently. Ride met at Leichhardt Town Hall at 530 pm. See past event on meetup.com/bike-leichhardt.
Council’s Response was given in item 15 in the 13 August Council Meeting. contains useful information on current projects.
Here are the 3 minute talks to Inner WestCouncil in support of IWBC Petition, May 2024:
IWBC Petition: Safe Cycling in the Inner West. By Neil Tonkin, IWBC.
“As we are all aware Inner West Bicycle Coalition has long been advocating for Council to change our street environments to allow our community to safely get about by bicycle and reduce motor traffic congestion.The community could benefit from separated cycleways, cycle orientated road treatments and lower speed environments. Pedestrians and public transport users could also benefit. The health, environmental, public amenity and social equity benefits are well documented.
Our member groups over the years have been patiently working with our local councils and the merged Inner West Council urging these improvements.
Although Inner West Council promotes active transport over private car use we have seen minimal on-ground improvement of cycling conditions. In fact, I have stated on at least two occasions at this lectern that recent Council progress on building new cycle facilities has been glacial.
Our member groups and followers are in touch with people who cycle and the message we constantly receive is: What is Council doing about making cycling safer and better? Climate change is upon us, we are surrounded by road congestion, the road toll is on the increase and society is becoming increasingly unhealthy due to lack of daily physical exercise. It is no surprise that in just over eight weeks Bike Marrickville’s petition had gathered over 1,000 signatures.
Council knows Transport NSW offers capital funding for design and building of bicycle infrastructure under it’s Get Active program. Only recently the Federal Government has also made similar funding available under its Active Transport Fund.We have met with council officers at a senior level and have been assured that Council has the capability to initiate and manage cycle infrastructure projects, yet no new ones have been started in this term of Council.Why is this so?Extra state funding was also made available during Covid to encourage physical activity by building pop-up cycleways, but this council failed to avail itself of this opportunity, unlike the progressive City of Sydney.
Is it no wonder that our members are rightly asking:What is Council doing about making cycling safer and better? We urge Council to seriously consider the challenge that this petition presents, pass the motion and get moving on starting new cycleway projects.”
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By Fiona Campbell, Bike Marrickville and City of Sydney Cycleway Manager-
“It was 24 years ago when I first spoke at a Marrickville Council meeting – to talk about the community benefits of more people riding and to urge council to keep, not axe, its tiny bike budget, and do more for cycling.
I thought about reading you my speech from 2000, but these days, you all know about the benefits of more people riding, and you know that a very healthy majority of the population agree. And, in recent years, the Inner West Council has done some really fantastic work – the GreenWay is becoming a reality, the Carrington Road cycleway upgrade is so great, Regional Route 7 – the cycleway along the rail line between almost Summer Hill and Newtown – is almost all very good, and more.
Inner West has so much potential. Did you know that in the 2011 census when the City of Sydney only just started building cycleways, it was Marrickville and Leichhardt leading the way, with higher proportions of work trips by bike than the City of Sydney? (MV 4.39%, L 3.81% & CoS 3.64%). Inner West could re-take that lead with the safe connected bike network that its community wants.
We know each project is hard. There are many hurdles. There are always some people who object, and that takes some fortitude, but the community as a whole is behind you. But you CAN do this, and the community, almost all of them, will thank you for it. Everyone will benefit from better health, safer streets, safer climate, and even – for those who still drive, it will be easier to park and drive in the long run, overall. You can do this.”
After opening to much fanfare in December 2023 the Parklands have been unfortunately closed much of the time since January due to the discovery of bonded asbestos in the mulch in the garden and landscape beds.
The much if briefly appreciated through links for cyclists to the Anzac Bridge and to Annandale are currently still closed. [ reopened mid 2024].
What was obvious before the asbestos debacle was that there has been little to no work done on the connections to the Park, such as Whites Ck path, Lilyfield Rd, Gordon St, Robert St, Victoria Rd, and Johnston St. Many of these necessary Active Transport links were identified in the Westconnex EIS (Appendix N) and in the Rozelle Interchange UDLP, (Ch 11 on Active Transport), but were left to ”others” to do, presumably Council and TfNSW. After 6 years the ”others” have failed to act.
IWBC has put in a submission on these missing links and on some defects of the Rozelle Parklands cycling infrastucture as constructed.
See a photo compilation by Bike Leichhardt, identifying defects or missing connections.
We also suggest that surrounding streets be declared 30 K zones or Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, in order to promote walking and cycling to the new Parklands. This would be consistent with Councils new policy on lowering speed limits, where 30 K is now an option on selected streets. 30 K is much safer than 40 K, and is used extensively in other countries.
The State Government has released a plan for a foreshore bike and walking path from Parramatta to the Opera House. Total length is 91 km, so not meant as a direct route, but a path you could use bits of to explore the foreshores or complete the whole route over time. They have started with 12 projects that they say are feasible now and are also useful as part of other routes. One is a path next to Massey Park Golf Course in Concord. Another is upgrading Foreshore Rd in Callan Park to remove car parking, although this has already been announced as part of a Bay Run upgrade.
Future progress will depend on a steady roll out of funding, which could be problematic. Any business case might well decide that other more transport-oriented bike routes might be better value. However, more foreshore paths would be great for Bike Leichhardt recreational rides.
