Parks remain fenced months after asbestos detected in mulch

1 week ago 6

Clean-up efforts person yet to commencement astatine dozens of sites crossed Greater Sydney astir 3 months aft asbestos was detected successful recycled mulch.

Last Saturday, radical rallying against unit against women successful Sydney marched on the footpath astatine Belmore Park, their movements restricted by agleam orangish portion surrounding contaminated material.

The parkland is managed by the City of Sydney, which has remediated and afloat removed fencing for conscionable 4 of its 17 affected sites.

National Rally Against Violence walked past areas fenced disconnected owed to asbestos contamination successful Belmore Park, Haymarket.

Mulched areas successful Victoria Park, Camperdown, St James Park successful Glebe and Blackwattle Bay Park stay cordoned off. Clean-up efforts person begun astatine Observatory Hill Park successful Millers Point and Jubilee and Wentworth parks successful Glebe.

The friable asbestos has been removed from Bicentennial Park, portion enactment is nether mode to region asbestos astatine different country wrong the park.

A City of Sydney spokesperson said the assembly took assemblage information seriously.

“We person respective teams moving progressively done remaining parks and person prioritised sites based connected things similar however overmuch asbestos was detected, the magnitude of mulch astatine a parkland and planned events,” the spokesperson said.

“Remediation astatine parks includes the mentation and autarkic support of a removal plan, removal of contaminated mulch, and investigating of soil. Once the tract has been cleared, caller mulch is laid and barriers and fencing removed.”

Barriers and signs person been erected to forestall radical from entering areas wherever clean-up is yet to instrumentality place.

Transport for NSW has remediated conscionable 1 of its sites, successful Telopea, on the Parramatta Light Rail line.

Affected sites crossed the caller Sydney metro stations – including Dulwich Hill, Canterbury and Campsie – stay fenced off, though astir of the areas are inaccessible to the public, a Transport for NSW spokesperson confirmed.

Plans are successful spot to remediate the Nowra Bridge Upgrade, Prospect Highway and Wiley Park sites.

Penrith City Council is preparing a strategy with a contractor to region affected mulch successful Regatta Park, Emu Plains, though a spokesperson said the mulch was located wrong a fenced-off country adjacent the cricket oval, which is inactive nether operation arsenic portion of the 2nd signifier of the Regatta Park Upgrade, and is inaccessible to the public.

Two affected locations wrong the Inner West Council area, astatine a plot furniture successful Rozelle and astatine the WestConnex Site Office successful St Peters, person been remediated.

A spokesperson for the Environment Protection Authority said Rozelle Parklands and each schools, hospitals and healthcare facilities that were recovered to person asbestos successful mulch had been cleaned up and reopened.

“We are providing further enactment to residential and not-for-profit landowners, and implicit the coming weeks [we] volition beryllium inspecting these sites to guarantee clean-up has been completed oregon is nether way,” the spokesperson said.

“Once we person established the presumption of clean-up works astatine each sites, we volition enactment with landowners to found a tenable timeframe for completing works … Where landowners neglect to cleanable up sites successful a timely manner, the EPA whitethorn see regulatory action.”