I was there when Honeysuckle was signed off. What went wrong?

The Advertiser

5 days ago

I witnessed one of the best examples of co-operation between our three levels of government and our two main political parties when the Honeysuckle project was launched in Newcastle in 1992, three years after the earthquake.
The initial $100 million fund to support the conversion of disused railway land in the Newcastle CBD was enabled by the Keating ALP government's Better Cities program, which provided two-thirds of the funding, with the remaining amount and management of the development being provided by the NSW Fahey Liberal government. The City of Newcastle, under the leadership of lord mayor John McNaughton, also played a critical role in supporting the changes required locally to make this urban renewal project happen.
As the Hunter-based federal senator, I joined a roundtable in Newcastle City Hall when this bipartisan intergovernmental agreement was signed off in 1992. We had high hopes that the conversion of 50 hectares of derelict CBD railway land on the harbour would be a game-changer for the renewal of the city centre. Politicians then stepped back, and NSW bureaucrats took over the Honeysuckle project approvals process.
Now, 33 years later, it's crucial to ask: has the Honeysuckle project, which is nearing completion, lived up to our initial high expectations?
Regrettably, many of the planned green spaces have not materialised. The potential for the impressive 1988 Bicentennial Newcastle Foreshore greenspace project to extend down the harbour as far as Wickham was lost when apartment and hotel developments were approved on Honeysuckle land, encroaching on the harbour's edge. Near the restored former railway workshops, a very imaginative plan for a small boat harbour inlet was also scrapped.
Initially, a mix of commercial and residential buildings was envisioned, but apart from notable exceptions such as NIB and Hunter Water, and a scattering of small businesses, Honeysuckle now predominantly has a concrete canyon of apartment buildings, all about the same height, for its entire length.
There is, however, one last chance to offset some of this urban planning disaster. Next to the Interchange, on the western edge of the Honeysuckle land, are two remaining large parcels of undeveloped land west of Cottage Creek. The current plan is to create a 'gateway' to the CBD with even more intensive urban development, including additional apartments. This plan should be scrapped. The last thing Newcastle City needs is an extension of the current concrete canyon along Honeysuckle Drive.
A much better gateway to the city would be open parkland, stretching from the Interchange to the harbour foreshore. This would provide an additional green space for the city, where it is needed most. This land is currently a car park by default. However, converted to parkland, it would provide critically needed open green space for the series of tower apartment buildings, some over 20 storeys, that have been built or are now under construction on nearby land in Newcastle West.
I think this new park should be called Henry Lawson Park. It has only one small historic building, the forlorn and partially restored Wickham School of Arts. It was here that a teenage Lawson, who worked nearby, attended adult education classes in the evening in the 1890s - presumably to improve his English!
Herald columnist Bradley Perrett called for the creation of a park in the city to rival Sydney's grand Hyde Park (Herald, 20/6). He suggested Lambton Park for extensive modification, and others have suggested Gregson Park, in Hamilton. There were objections published in the Herald to these locations because many families are keen to keep using the park facilities that had been developed and extensively used over many years.
However, the proposed park space in Wickham at the end of Honeysuckle Drive is a blank canvas, and Perrett's idea of creating an impressive parkland to rival Sydney's Hyde Park would be well placed there, as a gateway to the CBD between the Interchange and the harbour. An additional lung for Newcastle in its most densely populated area should be the highest priority for the final stage of the Honeysuckle development.
I witnessed one of the best examples of co-operation between our three levels of government and our two main political parties when the Honeysuckle project was launched in Newcastle in 1992, three years after the earthquake.
The initial $100 million fund to support the conversion of disused railway land in the Newcastle CBD was enabled by the Keating ALP government's Better Cities program, which provided two-thirds of the funding, with the remaining amount and management of the development being provided by the NSW Fahey Liberal government. The City of Newcastle, under the leadership of lord mayor John McNaughton, also played a critical role in supporting the changes required locally to make this urban renewal project happen.
As the Hunter-based federal senator, I joined a roundtable in Newcastle City Hall when this bipartisan intergovernmental agreement was signed off in 1992. We had high hopes that the conversion of 50 hectares of derelict CBD railway land on the harbour would be a game-changer for the renewal of the city centre. Politicians then stepped back, and NSW bureaucrats took over the Honeysuckle project approvals process.
Now, 33 years later, it's crucial to ask: has the Honeysuckle project, which is nearing completion, lived up to our initial high expectations?
Regrettably, many of the planned green spaces have not materialised. The potential for the impressive 1988 Bicentennial Newcastle Foreshore greenspace project to extend down the harbour as far as Wickham was lost when apartment and hotel developments were approved on Honeysuckle land, encroaching on the harbour's edge. Near the restored former railway workshops, a very imaginative plan for a small boat harbour inlet was also scrapped.
Initially, a mix of commercial and residential buildings was envisioned, but apart from notable exceptions such as NIB and Hunter Water, and a scattering of small businesses, Honeysuckle now predominantly has a concrete canyon of apartment buildings, all about the same height, for its entire length.
There is, however, one last chance to offset some of this urban planning disaster. Next to the Interchange, on the western edge of the Honeysuckle land, are two remaining large parcels of undeveloped land west of Cottage Creek. The current plan is to create a 'gateway' to the CBD with even more intensive urban development, including additional apartments. This plan should be scrapped. The last thing Newcastle City needs is an extension of the current concrete canyon along Honeysuckle Drive.
A much better gateway to the city would be open parkland, stretching from the Interchange to the harbour foreshore. This would provide an additional green space for the city, where it is needed most. This land is currently a car park by default. However, converted to parkland, it would provide critically needed open green space for the series of tower apartment buildings, some over 20 storeys, that have been built or are now under construction on nearby land in Newcastle West.
I think this new park should be called Henry Lawson Park. It has only one small historic building, the forlorn and partially restored Wickham School of Arts. It was here that a teenage Lawson, who worked nearby, attended adult education classes in the evening in the 1890s - presumably to improve his English!
Herald columnist Bradley Perrett called for the creation of a park in the city to rival Sydney's grand Hyde Park (Herald, 20/6). He suggested Lambton Park for extensive modification, and others have suggested Gregson Park, in Hamilton. There were objections published in the Herald to these locations because many families are keen to keep using the park facilities that had been developed and extensively used over many years.
However, the proposed park space in Wickham at the end of Honeysuckle Drive is a blank canvas, and Perrett's idea of creating an impressive parkland to rival Sydney's Hyde Park would be well placed there, as a gateway to the CBD between the Interchange and the harbour. An additional lung for Newcastle in its most densely populated area should be the highest priority for the final stage of the Honeysuckle development.
I witnessed one of the best examples of co-operation between our three levels of government and our two main political parties when the Honeysuckle project was launched in Newcastle in 1992, three years after the earthquake.
The initial $100 million fund to support the conversion of disused railway land in the Newcastle CBD was enabled by the Keating ALP government's Better Cities program, which provided two-thirds of the funding, with the remaining amount and management of the development being provided by the NSW Fahey Liberal government. The City of Newcastle, under the leadership of lord mayor John McNaughton, also played a critical role in supporting the changes required locally to make this urban renewal project happen.
As the Hunter-based federal senator, I joined a roundtable in Newcastle City Hall when this bipartisan intergovernmental agreement was signed off in 1992. We had high hopes that the conversion of 50 hectares of derelict CBD railway land on the harbour would be a game-changer for the renewal of the city centre. Politicians then stepped back, and NSW bureaucrats took over the Honeysuckle project approvals process.
Now, 33 years later, it's crucial to ask: has the Honeysuckle project, which is nearing completion, lived up to our initial high expectations?
Regrettably, many of the planned green spaces have not materialised. The potential for the impressive 1988 Bicentennial Newcastle Foreshore greenspace project to extend down the harbour as far as Wickham was lost when apartment and hotel developments were approved on Honeysuckle land, encroaching on the harbour's edge. Near the restored former railway workshops, a very imaginative plan for a small boat harbour inlet was also scrapped.
Initially, a mix of commercial and residential buildings was envisioned, but apart from notable exceptions such as NIB and Hunter Water, and a scattering of small businesses, Honeysuckle now predominantly has a concrete canyon of apartment buildings, all about the same height, for its entire length.
There is, however, one last chance to offset some of this urban planning disaster. Next to the Interchange, on the western edge of the Honeysuckle land, are two remaining large parcels of undeveloped land west of Cottage Creek. The current plan is to create a 'gateway' to the CBD with even more intensive urban development, including additional apartments. This plan should be scrapped. The last thing Newcastle City needs is an extension of the current concrete canyon along Honeysuckle Drive.
A much better gateway to the city would be open parkland, stretching from the Interchange to the harbour foreshore. This would provide an additional green space for the city, where it is needed most. This land is currently a car park by default. However, converted to parkland, it would provide critically needed open green space for the series of tower apartment buildings, some over 20 storeys, that have been built or are now under construction on nearby land in Newcastle West.
I think this new park should be called Henry Lawson Park. It has only one small historic building, the forlorn and partially restored Wickham School of Arts. It was here that a teenage Lawson, who worked nearby, attended adult education classes in the evening in the 1890s - presumably to improve his English!
Herald columnist Bradley Perrett called for the creation of a park in the city to rival Sydney's grand Hyde Park (Herald, 20/6). He suggested Lambton Park for extensive modification, and others have suggested Gregson Park, in Hamilton. There were objections published in the Herald to these locations because many families are keen to keep using the park facilities that had been developed and extensively used over many years.
However, the proposed park space in Wickham at the end of Honeysuckle Drive is a blank canvas, and Perrett's idea of creating an impressive parkland to rival Sydney's Hyde Park would be well placed there, as a gateway to the CBD between the Interchange and the harbour. An additional lung for Newcastle in its most densely populated area should be the highest priority for the final stage of the Honeysuckle development.
I witnessed one of the best examples of co-operation between our three levels of government and our two main political parties when the Honeysuckle project was launched in Newcastle in 1992, three years after the earthquake.
The initial $100 million fund to support the conversion of disused railway land in the Newcastle CBD was enabled by the Keating ALP government's Better Cities program, which provided two-thirds of the funding, with the remaining amount and management of the development being provided by the NSW Fahey Liberal government. The City of Newcastle, under the leadership of lord mayor John McNaughton, also played a critical role in supporting the changes required locally to make this urban renewal project happen.
As the Hunter-based federal senator, I joined a roundtable in Newcastle City Hall when this bipartisan intergovernmental agreement was signed off in 1992. We had high hopes that the conversion of 50 hectares of derelict CBD railway land on the harbour would be a game-changer for the renewal of the city centre. Politicians then stepped back, and NSW bureaucrats took over the Honeysuckle project approvals process.
Now, 33 years later, it's crucial to ask: has the Honeysuckle project, which is nearing completion, lived up to our initial high expectations?
Regrettably, many of the planned green spaces have not materialised. The potential for the impressive 1988 Bicentennial Newcastle Foreshore greenspace project to extend down the harbour as far as Wickham was lost when apartment and hotel developments were approved on Honeysuckle land, encroaching on the harbour's edge. Near the restored former railway workshops, a very imaginative plan for a small boat harbour inlet was also scrapped.
Initially, a mix of commercial and residential buildings was envisioned, but apart from notable exceptions such as NIB and Hunter Water, and a scattering of small businesses, Honeysuckle now predominantly has a concrete canyon of apartment buildings, all about the same height, for its entire length.
There is, however, one last chance to offset some of this urban planning disaster. Next to the Interchange, on the western edge of the Honeysuckle land, are two remaining large parcels of undeveloped land west of Cottage Creek. The current plan is to create a 'gateway' to the CBD with even more intensive urban development, including additional apartments. This plan should be scrapped. The last thing Newcastle City needs is an extension of the current concrete canyon along Honeysuckle Drive.
A much better gateway to the city would be open parkland, stretching from the Interchange to the harbour foreshore. This would provide an additional green space for the city, where it is needed most. This land is currently a car park by default. However, converted to parkland, it would provide critically needed open green space for the series of tower apartment buildings, some over 20 storeys, that have been built or are now under construction on nearby land in Newcastle West.
I think this new park should be called Henry Lawson Park. It has only one small historic building, the forlorn and partially restored Wickham School of Arts. It was here that a teenage Lawson, who worked nearby, attended adult education classes in the evening in the 1890s - presumably to improve his English!
Herald columnist Bradley Perrett called for the creation of a park in the city to rival Sydney's grand Hyde Park (Herald, 20/6). He suggested Lambton Park for extensive modification, and others have suggested Gregson Park, in Hamilton. There were objections published in the Herald to these locations because many families are keen to keep using the park facilities that had been developed and extensively used over many years.
However, the proposed park space in Wickham at the end of Honeysuckle Drive is a blank canvas, and Perrett's idea of creating an impressive parkland to rival Sydney's Hyde Park would be well placed there, as a gateway to the CBD between the Interchange and the harbour. An additional lung for Newcastle in its most densely populated area should be the highest priority for the final stage of the Honeysuckle development.