Councillors refute Neutral Bay activist claim they are soft on over-development

Two St Leonards Wards councillors, James Spenceley and the Sustainable Australia Party’s William Bourke, have refuted suggestions in a widely circulated leaflet that they are soft on over-development and thus should be rejected at the September 14 election. Bourke described the campaign’s author as having” jumped the shark.”

Neutral Bay community activist Meredith Trevallyn-Jones has authorised a new brochure endorsing the Real Independents’ Zoe Baker and Labor’s Godfrey Santer as the best candidates to oppose developer claims as the state Labor government moves to mandate rapid expansion of medium rise constructions across the LGA. 

But independent Spenceley is targeted because he once voted for an extra floor on one Neutral Bay development as well as a higher car space ratio for apartment constructions. The Sustainable Australia party, who’s ticket in the ward is headed by Michael Want this year with Bourke at number two, is targeted because it is allegedly “aligned with the James Spenceley /Jilly Gibson faction.”

Trevallyn-Jones has an outsized influence on community sentiment. A brochure she circulated at the last 2021 election, titled “Jack of Jilly”, is credited with making Neutral Bay high-rise a major election issue and, ironically, endorsed Bourke along with Baker. She is head of the Neutral Bay Cremorne Progress Association and was also appointed head of a consultative committee – the  Neutral Bay Alive Community Consultation Group – anointed by council to provide feedback on Neutral Bay planning issues.

However, the two targets of the brochure refute the claims made.

Spenceley told the Sun “To define me as pro-developer is simply fiction designed to mislead the public and the authors know that via our extensive direct and in-direct conversation. You only have to look at the motions and actions I’ve taken on Council. It was my own urgency motion that repealed the original 12 stories for Neutral Bay, yes my motion that took 12 stories away from Neutral Bay town centre at the expense of developers. The author and the team they support know this. But they clearly wish to mislead people in an overt and disgusting grab for votes.”

Spenceley also said he had successfully advanced a motion that removed apartment blocks from the Residential R3 Zone. “This greatly reduces rampant apartment over-development across our area and had many developers very angry. It was also my motions that put the interim heritage orders on 26 cottages on Parraween Street against a major developer.”

He said he was “bemused” that the main criticisms of him were his belief that large apartments should have sufficient car lots in order to keep owner vehicles off the street and that he “voted for just one extra floor literally not visible from the street on one apartment building in return for a million-dollar contribution towards a community plaza.”

Spenceley said that “placing Sustainable Australia and myself in a bloc with Jilly Gibson who I’ve voted against the majority of the time is plainly stating they want power more than they respect our voters. It is Labor who wants to put 4 to 6 storey apartment blocks in all our streets and our “real” independents who vote with Labor 98% of the time.”

The Sustainable Australia Party’s Bourke, meanwhile, voted with Labor and Real Independent councillors on nearly all substantive planning votes in the last term, while dissenting from them regularly on other governance and political issues.

Bourke sought to place the Trevallyn-Jones campaign in some perspective, describing it as from “a single member of the community that is endorsing the Real Independent/ Labor Party faction.”

“I was bemused and disappointed that an individual person claimed that I was developer friendly. Whilst I support reasonable development, I have been often a lone voice in this council against overdevelopment, and therefore, I think anyone who has been watching this council to any reasonable degree would see that flyer as a ludicrous smear,” he told the Sun.

Bourke continued “there’s been a number of rezoning or planning proposals where, such as the IBM building in St. Leonards, where I was the only councillor to oppose the demolition of a perfectly good building and massive up zoning of that site. Even in the last council meeting, I was the only councillor to oppose council’s submission on the (state government) Transport Oriented Development plan in Crows Nest because I felt it wasn’t anywhere near strong enough in pushing back.”

“My view is that this single member of the community has jumped the shark in terms of claiming what I stand for. It is an egregious misrepresentation.”

“I’m really proud to be running in this election in the group of St Leonards’ Michael Want, who was  our candidate in Willoughby in the state election, who is similarly concerned about overdevelopment and also Sarah Kok in Cammeraygal, who has been very active against overdevelopment and for the protection of heritage in community campaigns such as Holt Avenue.”

“I’m now claimed by supporters of both the Real Independent/Labor Party faction and the Mutton/Gibson Group faction as being part of the other faction. I think this tells you that my record in council as an independent voice for our environment, heritage and community, who cannot be controlled by any faction, has been the right path. And so, win, lose or draw, the Sustainable Australia Party will focus on integrity, not personality, politics.”