Senior members of Billbergia Construction management gave an insightful presentation at the Rhodes Action Group meeting on Wednesday night (26th Oct 2022). Their time and contribution are greatly appreciated. Neighbourhood watch was also addressed at the meeting.
We were pleased to have within the audience Mr John Kinsella, Managing Director of Billbergia. He is a resident of Rhodes and mentioned that he has passion and love of both Rhodes. He understands the traffic issues as he drives himself on the weekends. John really has high ambitions to make Rhodes the best suburb in Sydney, and seeks our support.
In the follow up Q&A session, common concerns was highlight such as over-development, traffic management, infrastructure delays and issues. The main take-aways where:
· Billbergia is keen to be engaged with the community, both in trying to solve issues and the planning of East Rhodes, open spaces, schools, ovals, gardens etc.
· Traffic issue was highlighted as the major concern. And that there is no real infrastructure plan to address the current or future needs
· The Foot Bridge is still in negotiation with the council and TAHE (Transport Asset holding equity)
· Pedestrian Crossing on Marquet St has been moved from it’s original location that was part of the planning stages of Rhodes Central.
· Community Pool was cancelled by Council – mainly due to running costs.
Developments: It is clear that Rhodes area in total, could be looking up to 3500 extra dwellings. At this stage there seems very little planning from our State and local governments for infrastructure, community spaces, ovals, pool, traffic management and so on.
Community Engagement: Disappointing turn-out from residences. It was clear on the night we need Rhodes Community to be massively engaged. For events like this we need to show up in numbers and make it count. Otherwise we will not be able to influence the outcome in our area.
