Residents fight to save park

SYDNEY -- Around 150 Marrickville residents packed into a public meeting in Herb Greedy Hall on April 7, outraged by a Marrickville Council proposal to hand over a public park and sports fields to a private developer. David Lloyd Leisure Australia plans to turn a large part of Steel Park (pictured) into a private sporting complex. Under the plan, supported by Marrickville Mayor Barry Cotter, there would be a daily membership fee for locals to use the facilities. A Marrickville resident, Gail Nichols, told the Glebe that the development, covering half the present park, would severely limit public access. "The complex would be fenced off and run as a private club charging annual fees of $200, $500 or more" for using an area now freely accessible to the public, she said. Cotter, former Leichhardt mayor Larry Hand and South Sydney Mayor Vic Smith have recently been criticised for their links with developers. Cotter is also under fire for proposing redevelopment of the site of the old Marrickville hospital by a company of which he is a director. The meeting voted to ask the council to reconsider the park plan.

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