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crag garage sale - saturday 12 november 2011 Sunday, 6 November 2011 CRAG is holding a fund raising garage sale on Saturday, 12 November 2011 at 3 Canal Road Greystanes. Come along, pickup a bargain and help the fight to keep the Canal Reserve safe. All funds raised are going to CRAG, to cover the operating costs we incur standing against threats to the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve. The sort of costs we need to cover are:
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latest newsletter hits the letterboxes Saturday, 30 July 2011 CRAG's latest printed newsletter has been delivered to close to 5000 houses near the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve. The newletter provides an update on various issues concerning the Canal Reserve. This website will still be the primary means of communicating with the community at large, however, letterboxing neighbours will reach those people who don't have internet access. |
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please fill in the survey Saturday, 2 July 2011 The newly elected local member for Smithfield, Andrew Rohan, wants to know the problem you would most like fixed in the Smithfield electorate. We certainly have an answer to that question, and you can help us to make it loud and clear. Here is your opportunity to tell him to "Build Our Bridge". Download a copy of the survey form with the "Build Our Bridge" message already added. Then mail or email it to the addresses on the bottom of the form. The new NSW State Government needs to know that this issue will not be going away until the Canal Reserve cycleway is returned to its former level of safety |
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first step Sunday, 20 March 2011 We have now taken the first tentative step towards having a bridge built on the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve. Members of CRAG met with Roads Minister, David Borger and local member Ninos Khoshaba at the Reconciliation Road intersection on Friday, 18 March 2011 for the official announcement that the Minister had authorised $1 million from the RTA's NSW Bikeplan towards the bridge. This approval was given just before the Government moved into caretaker mode ready for the election, and was prompted by the meeting between CRAG and David Borger on the site a couple of weeks before. The Minister explained that he had given a directive to the head of the RTA, Michael Bushby, to make the bridge happen. He also advised that any future Government could, of course, rescind this directive. On Friday, CRAG received an email from Andrew Rohan the Liberal candidate for Smithfield in which he made the following committment on behalf of the Coalition: "I will also make sure this bridge is built. That is a rock-solid commitment in writing here by email". We take this as part of the Coalition's "Contract with NSW" and expect to see it honoured. These events indicate that we have bi-partisan support for a bridge. It is now up to the RTA to deliver, and we intend to watch them like a hawk for as long as it takes. The RTA has now been given a directive. It is time for the RTA to act. |
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latest newspaper coverage Friday, 18 March 2011 The latest edition of The Parramatta Holroyd Sun has a half page story covering their analysis of the current situation on the Build Our Bridge campaign. Have a look at the online edition here: The Parramatta Holroyd Sun bridge article |
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borger media release Wednesday, 16 March 2011 We have now received a media release issued by David Borger. At this point we have not been able to contact the Minister to seek clarification on some of the finer detail which holds the key to just how good the news is. Click below, read it for yourself. David Borger press release At this time, CRAG welcomes the media release, is glad to see that we seem to have some positive news, but we intend to be vigilant in monitoring further progress. As we find out more information we will post it here. |
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borger fails again Sunday, 13 March 2011 No news is not necessarily good news. Yet again, for the Canal Reserve and the community, it is bad news. The meeting with David Borger held on the 26 February 2011 has not been followed up with any commitment or even further comment by the Minister, despite numerous emails, telephone and text messages. CRAG was only looking for a simple "yes" or "no" as to whether he could help, we got neither, absolutely no feedback. The meeting promised so much but delivered so little. The stony silence has been a hallmark of the communications of this government. CRAG will continue to lobby for the promised bridge and launch a media campaign to highlight what we see as failures of this government to deliver a bridge or underpass that is safer than the signalised crossing currently being constructed on the Boral site. The labor party bio of the premier, Kristina Keneally proudly states one of her achievements for her local electorate as: "Kristina has taken decisive action to stand up for her community, including ...ruling out the use of Tempe Reserve as part of the M5 widening..." It is a shame that no one in the NSW Labor Government stood up for the Lower Prospect Canal when an application to destroy a section of the canal for the construction of Reconciliation Road (Prospect Highway) was received by the NSW Heritage Council. The lower canal deserved protection from development. The community deserves protection from a six lane highway that has replaced a safe cycleway/walkway. This Government has failed to grasp that the community is upset because they have taken something away, not because they haven't provided something. We had a safe cycleway/walkway and we want it back. We don't want the signalised crossing which we do not consider is as safe as a bridge. We want the bridge promised on the original plans, the bridge that the RTA removed with the swipe a pen. The RTA that this Government and successive Ministers have failed to control. |
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borger meets with crag Sunday, 27 February 2011 Saturday morning, 26 February 2011, saw CRAG representatives have an impromptu inspection of the signalised crossing being built on the Boral site at Greystanes (which we do not consider to be as safe as an underpass or bridge) with the Roads Minister, David Borger. This meeting was long overdue and a pleasant surprise. We will report further on the meeting next week, when we will either have good news or bad news. |
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libs pay visit Saturday, 26 February 2011 Last Thursday, 24 February 2011, saw the Smithfield electorate, Liberal candidate, Andrew Rohan and his campaign manager Fairfield Councillor, Zaya Toma meet CRAG representatives on the Canal Reserve to inspect the current progress of the signalised crossing being built on the Boral site at Greystanes, which we do not consider to be as safe as an underpass or bridge. The press also attended to talk to Andrew and gather his views on the contentious issue of the "missing" bridge. Andrew has confirmed that he is backing CRAG on the issue. Let's hope that support translates into real action should his party win power in the state election next month. The following day CRAG received a letter from Mark Neeham, Campaign Director - Liberals and Ben Franklin, Campaign Director - Nationals, in response to a letter from CRAG asking for the official stance of the Coalition parties with regard to building a bridge. The Coalition response is as follows: Response to Canal Reserve Action Group |
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borger fails to control rta Sunday, 20 February 2011 In a recent newspaper article it was revealed that even the head of Transport NSW, Les Wielinga, believes the RTA is out of control. This has certainly been evident to CRAG throughout the whole time we have been campaigning to have the Canal Reserve cycleaway made safe again. We mistakenly thought that the Minister, David Borger, would exercise some control over the RTA given their recalcitrant and unhelpful attitude after allowing the safety of the cycleway to be destroyed. However, in all instances Borger has deferred to the "barnacles" at the RTA - as Les Wielinga calls them - and allowed them to snub their noses at the community. Why is David Borger so scared of the RTA? Why won't David Borger act to protect the community? |
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grove burns bridges with borger Friday, 5 November 2010 Holroyd Councillor, Ross Grove, has today issued a press release slamming Roads Minister David Borger for the blatant hypocrisy of funding a cycleway in his own electorate while ignoring the safety issue his Government has created in the neighbouring electorate of Smithfield. Borger promises the wrong bicycle path for Holroyd |
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the fight goes on Saturday, 9 October 2010 Whilst the NSW State Government is ignoring the community's wishes for a bridge along the Canal Reserve, CRAG intends to keep fighting until the Government honours it's original promises. A safe cycleway must be returned. The latest letters from the Minister's office are attempting to dismiss the community's arguments, by pretending that promises weren't made. Unfortunately, the original correspondence from various Government Ministers and Departments tell a very different story. So who is telling the truth? And why is Minister Borger sponsoring events in the community to pretend he supports reducing cyclist and vehicle interactions when the Canal Reserve story proves he is keen to increase cyclist vehicle interactions. This seems a little strange doesn't it? Meanwhile, the issue has made page 3 in a recent Holroyd Sun article. Click the link to read the article. |
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temporary closure extended Tuesday, 14 September 2010 The temporary cycleway closure has been extended, please see our "traffic reports" page. |
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build our bridge hits the letterboxes Sunday, 29 August 2010 In an effort to more fully inform the community, CRAG has letterboxed close to 5000 houses near the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve with a printed newsletter detailing the way in which the NSW State Government and the RTA have let the community down by reducing safety on the Canal Reserve cycleway. This website will still be the primary means of communicating with the community at large, however, letterboxing neighbours will reach those people who don't have internet access. This is especially important coming up to the NSW election as it is important everyone understands how badly we have been treated on this issue. |
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temporary closure of cycleway Wednesday, 18 August 2010 For details of the upcoming temporary cycleway closure, please see our "traffic reports" page. |
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time for minister to control the rta Sunday, 25 July 2010 It is time for the NSW Roads Minister to step in and take control of the RTA. The tail has been wagging the dog for too long. Help us send a message to the Minister. We have updated our example letter page with a suitable letter for you to send, if you don't have time to compose your own missive. As the NSW State Government has been advertising the fact that "The NSW Budget is already back in surplus" there is no reason that the Minister can't fix the safety problem created by the RTA, by authorising expenditure on a bridge. Send a letter today. |
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sydney water subdivision Monday, 19 July 2010 CRAG has been advised that a portion of the "Pipehead" site owned by Sydney Water at Guildford West is to be subdivided and sold off to developers. This sell off will include the most easterly end of the Canal and cycleway from Albert Street into Frank Street. At this stage we are unsure of the implications for the cycleway or the heritage listed Canal. This Sydney Water newsletter contains all we know about the proposal, including a map. We would urge all users of the Canal Reserve cycleway to make a submission to Holroyd City Council when the application is advertised. We need to ensure that we do not lose the use of another section of the cycleway, or that another section of the heritage listed Canal is allowed to be destroyed, as the RTA has done at the Boral site at the western end of the Canal Reserve. |
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feature article in holroyd sun Tuesday, 13 July 2010 The Holroyd Sun sees the Build-Our-Bridge campaign as newsworthy as they approached CRAG for comments for a followup article (previously the Parramatta Sun) on the progress of the campaign. The followup article was run as a feature article on Page 3 of last weeks Holroyd Sun local newspaper. To read the article click here. |
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flick passed... Monday, 28 June 2010 Presumably everyone who wrote to the former Roads Minister in our April letter writing campaign will shortly receive a response from the Acting Chief Executive of the RTA. Whether the response has not come from the new Roads Minister due to the political turmoil at the time, or because he has flick passed the issue is not clear, but it is not an acceptable response. The community wrote to the Minister due to the RTAs known adversarial stance on this issue. A real response from the Minister should have been forthcoming. The RTA letter is here for viewing. Please check this news page regularly as we will post an analysis of the RTAs response and a new suggested letter for concerned community members to send to the Minister next week. |
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surplus funds – so lets have some! Friday, 25 June 2010 In a letter to constituents of the State Electorate of Smithfield, dated 25 June 2010, local member Ninos Khoshaba has advised that “The NSW Budget is already back in surplus – two years earlier than forecast”. That is sensational news! The whole time that CRAG has been appealing for the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve cycleway to be made safe again, by the provision of a bridge over the soon to be opened Prospect Highway and Liverpool to Blacktown Transitway, we have been constantly told “there are no funds”. Well apparently there are funds now. That’s what a surplus is. Well Mr Borger and Mr Khoshaba, what are you going to do about a bridge? |
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we now have a facebook page – become a fan Wednesday, 16 June 2010 As a means of showing how many people are concerned about the RTA reneging on their commitment to build a bridge we have created a Facebook page where you can show your support by becoming a “Fan”. Just go to www.facebook.com/canalreserve and click on the “Like” button to the right of the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve page title to become a Fan and push our counter up. Then click the “Suggest to Friends” button and encourage all your friends to also support the cause. For those of you who don’t have a Facebook account, it is a very simple process that takes a couple of minutes and only requires you to part with your name, date of birth (Facebook has age restrictions), sex and email address. Your date of birth, sex and email address can easily be hidden from everyone to maintain your privacy. Just go to www.facebook.com and fill in the details. Once setup is complete please go to www.facebook.com/canalreserve and follow the instructions above. If you care about safety on the Canal Reserve please become a Fan, and encourage all your friends to do the same. We have also added a "Like" button to the right of this item. Clicking it will make you a "Fan" without going to our Facebook page, but we still need you go to www.facebook.com/canalreserve to click the “Suggest to Friends” button. |
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yet another roads minister Sunday, 23 May 2010 Since the RTA allowed the safety of the Canal Reserve cycleway to be compromised in April 2008, we have had four Roads Ministers – Roozendaal, Daley, Campbell and now, Borger. Maybe this is the reason that so many people in the community regard the RTA as arrogant and recalcitrant. Without continuity of leadership from the Minister, the RTA seems to be free to do as they please, disregarding the wishes of the community. Where the RTA’s role should be to “do no harm“ they have unilaterally decided that it is fine to take what was a safe grade separated cycleway and re-route it across a six lane highway. This isn’t good enough. The RTA have taken something away from the community – a safe cycleway – and now they should return it. The community is not looking for something new. As we have done with the previous Ministers we now need to ensure our new Minister understands that we do not accept the RTA’s position and that he should direct them to fix the problem. For those who haven’t yet sent a letter of protest to the Minister, now would be a good time as we have updated our example letter page to reflect the new Minister’s (David Borger) contact details. So please send an email or letter to Minister Borger to let him know you are not happy to have the safety level of the Canal Reserve cycleway reduced. |
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new web address Thursday, 20 May 2010 CRAG has now moved the Build our Bridge campaign to it's own dedicated web address - www.build-our-bridge.org. Please bookmark the new address so that you can come directly to the campaign section of the website for all the latest news, and to lend your support to the rest of community who are determined that the RTA must return a safe cycleway to the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve. The www.canalreserve.org site remains as an information source for the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve. We have also moved all information about CRAG to www.crag-inc.org. |
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rta is to blame Sunday, 18 April 2010 It is time for the NSW Minister for Roads to step in and direct the RTA to "Build Our Bridge". The RTA has been stalling for too long and it is time for the tail to stop wagging the dog. The RTA promised a bridge. The RTA promised to consult the community about a bridge. The RTA ignored these committments and is now ignoring the community. The only solution is for the community to demand that the Minister become involved. Please support this campaign to make our cycleway safe again by taking the time to write to the Minister. You can go to our example letter page for text that can be cut and pasted into a letter or email or you can print this pdf version, fill in your details, sign and send off to save time. |
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what is wrong in the rta Tuesday, 13 April 2010 It seems that the RTA can’t be trusted with decisions that affect the safety and convenience of NSW taxpayers. Monday of this week saw motorists on the F3 inconvenienced for somewhere between 8 and 12 hours because the RTA would not make the decision to invoke an emergency traffic plan that has cost the taxpayer $28million. Amazingly, the Roads Minister did not step in. For more details click here. The RTA has also made a bad decision by removing a safe cycleway on the Canal Reserve and refusing to replace it. The promised bridge needs to be built, the community should not have it’s safety and convenience compromised yet again. It is time for the Roads Minister to step in and direct the RTA to fix the problem they have created and “Build Our Bridge”. If you are not happy with the RTA’s decision to remove our safe cycleway, write to the following address and let the Minister know.
Minister for Transport and Roads GPO Box 5341 Sydney NSW 2001 email: david@campbell.minister.nsw.gov.au |
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priorities, priorities, priorities Friday, 19 March 2010 For the last few years the RTA has been undermining any attempts to have a bridge built to return a safe cycleway with claims (amongst others) that it would be too expensive and there are no funds. Then what do we see in the press recently? The RTA has money to take young drivers to the cricket and supply them with food and alcohol. 
This image is from the RTA’s Pledge website. Who makes decisions in the RTA? and where are their priorities? Since when is it more important to waste taxpayers money on social outings, while refusing to reinstate the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve Cycleway to the level of safety it enjoyed before the RTA decided to destroy the heritage structure and force children to cross a highway. The RTA has made it quite clear that they are not going to consider a bridge and that they are not concerned about the safety aspect. Maybe that is why some community members are jokingly referring to them as “Rude and Totally Arrogant”. We won’t pass judgement on that, but we have noticed that it is pointless to attempt to reason with the RTA, therefore the only avenue is to direct all complaints to the Minister for Roads. The Premier of NSW thinks the RTA got it wrong with free booze (see here), and the community thinks the RTA got it wrong by refusing to build a bridge they promised to build. If you are not happy with the RTA’s decision to remove our safe cycleway, write to the following address and let the Minister know.
Minister for Transport and Roads GPO Box 5341 Sydney NSW 2001 email: david@campbell.minister.nsw.gov.au |
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canal reserve access to prospect reservoir has been restored Tuesday, 22 December 2009 After nearly 20 long months, access to Prospect Reservoir via the Canal Reserve has finally been restored. Unfortunately the reopening didn't go without a hitch. On day one, Sydney Water failed to open the final gate to the Reservoir picnic area until around lunch time, even though they were supposed to provide access at 6:00am. Day two was better, with access being provided as advertised. Let's hope Sydney Water can keep on top of this, as it is extremely frustating to ride or walk all the way to the Reservoir to find your access is blocked by a piece of chain wire. Should you find the Sydney Water gate has not been opened as advertised ring Sydney Water on 1800 010085 and the RTA on 131700 to complain and request that they be opened. For the latest on opening hours and news about the permanent opening please click here. Whilst it is good to have our access restored, it must be remembered that the restoration is not as safe as the cycleway that we used to have, and it will become less safe when the Prospect Highway and Tranitway is finally opened. CRAG intends to continue with the "Build our Bridge" campaign indefinitely, and will be looking for the support of the community in the new year as we target the campaign at the real culprits behind this debacle - the RTA. In the meantime, CRAG would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas and New Year, and take the opportunity to thank all our supporters for their assistance and donations. Unless there are urgent issues to report, this site will not be updated until late January, so please check back then when we will ramp up for the new year of campaigning. |
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permanent opening Tuesday, 15 December 2009 Beginning Monday 21 December 2009 access to Prospect Reservoir via the Canal Reserve will be permanently restored. As the access will be across an active construction site, through a controlled crossing point, it will be necessary to obey the directions of those manning the control point. A portion of the cycleway will remain as temporary asphalt until the final concrete cycleway is constructed next year. For the latest on opening hours and news about the permanent opening please click here. 
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yes, it happened Sunday, 1 November 2009 After 18 long months the Canal Reserve cycleway gates were finally opened yesterday restoring temporary access to Prospect Reservoir. For those who couldn't make it this weekend here is a photo of the open gates, just to prove it really did happen - we know a lot of people were skeptical.
For the latest on opening hours and news about a more permanent opening please click here. |
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temporary opening update Thursday, 29 October 2009 Members of CRAG met with Boral yesterday and were given a tour of the temporary cycleway works. Although there is still some work to be completed, everything is on schedule for the opening this weekend. The following photo shows a section of the temporary cycleway ready for asphalt to be laid today. 
Just to remind you the opening hours will be: Saturdays 2:00pm to 7:00pm Sundays 7:00am to 7:00pm Lets hope for nice weather so we can all enjoy our partially restored access. As for a more permanent opening, Boral advises that they are aiming to have the cycleway opened 7 days a week in time for the Christmas school holidays. |
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rta’s appalling response Thursday, 22 October 2009 Everyone who joined our letter writing campaign back in April would have finally received a response from the RTA’s CEO Michael Bushby. The response took more than six months and only regurgitated the RTA position from 18 months ago. How could it possibly take six months to compose a “cut and paste” standard response? Is there something seriously wrong in the RTA? Is the RTA just stalling? Does the RTA hold the community in contempt? The response couldn’t even get CRAG’s name correct. How professional is the RTA? The body of Mr Bushby’s letter is quoted below: Thank you for your suggestion concerning funding for the bicycle crossing of the Lower Prospect Canal Cycleway. I apologise for the delay in responding.The RTA considers that the signalised crossing will be safe. Well, it won’t be as safe as the cycleway we had before the RTA destroyed a section of the canal. The RTA is now quoting a figure of $3 million dollars for a bridge. They have provided no substantiation for the figure. What does that include? Things that we don’t want, or need, or infrastructure items not relevant to the situation? Is it a figure concocted to scare the community off? The Parramatta Advertiser carried a story on 9 September 2009 (page 22) of a $3 million dollar pedestrian bridge over Silverwater Road at Rydalmere. It has elevators and stairs. Are these the sort of things included in the canal bridge estimate? We don’t need them! What is wrong with the type of pedestrian bridges over the M7? A simple steel and concrete structure as pictured below. 
The community would be happy with a Bailey Bridge. The community just wants the cycleway to continue without vehicle interruption as it did previously. The RTA dismisses the idea of funding derived from advertising, yet provides no figures to substantiate such an offhand dismissal. The advertising material we have seen for the estate certainly quotes substantial traffic figures for Reconciliation Road. Who is not being upfront with us here? The response is an insult to the community. The RTA has known the issues since at least April 2008 (but actually much longer given CRAG’s correspondence from 2001), but has no real answers to the issues. Has the RTA been asleep at the wheel? What the RTA needs to understand is that the community is not asking for something new. The community is merely asking the RTA to restore something they have destroyed – A SAFE CYCLEWAY without vehicle interaction. We will be examining the RTA’s actions on this project in more detail over the coming months and will report our findings to the community here, so please check back regularly. |
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