World's Biggest Park Set for Sydney

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Found this one this morning on the web. Now whats wrong with Carr buying wonderland a year ago and doing the same thing? Source: News.com.au World's biggest park for Sydney By Simon Benson and wires December 4, 2004 A 35-year-old vision to create the world's largest urban park in the heart of suburban Sydney has today become a reality. The massive new urban parkland for western Sydney was about seizing the land for the people of the area forever, New South Wales Premier Bob Carr said today. At the site today, Mr Carr announced the creation of the park near Doonside - one of the biggest in the world, and 25 times the size of Centennial Park. He said $45 million would be spent over the next few years to open up space for the residents of western Sydney. "Today is about seizing the land of western Sydney for people forever, and saying it won't be touched by development," Mr Carr said. The announcement marks the culmination of an evolving plan, passed on from successive state governments since 1968, and will see the creation of an open space corridor running from Blacktown to Liverpool, slicing the city in half. Stretching 27km from north to south, it has an estimated land value of more than $2.5 billion and will serve as a "green haven" for the 1.8 million people who live west of Parramatta. State governments have been strategically buying up parcels of land in western Sydney based on a model created by the former State Planning Authority in 1968. The Carr Government has inherited much of the land which it will transform into recreation areas, conservation zones and parkland, beginning early in the new year. It is to become the green centerpiece of the Government's much-awaited Metropolitan Strategy, which will shape the future growth of Sydney for the next 30 years. As well as the park, a 55ha green residential suburb will be created adjacent, as well as a 58ha employment park employing 800 people. A trust has been established to manage the area, to be called the Western Sydney Parklands. Premier Bob Carr yesterday described the open space as the "lungs of western Sydney" and said it would be a unique urban area. "These parklands will become the lungs of western Sydney, offering families recreational and open space opportunities," he said. "Western Sydney currently has a population of 1.8 million people, growing to about 2.2 million by 2020. "It is one of the main engine rooms of the Australian economy. "It is sprinkled with job-creating industrial hubs and city centres. "Western Sydney families are working where they live and the Western Sydney Parklands will give a new place to have fun and enjoy themselves outdoors. "This will become an asset for our children and generations to come. It will enhance the quality of life for families in western Sydney. "It is about giving those families an even better quality of life." Old farming paddocks, bushland, existing recreation facilities and some Olympic sites have been incorporated into the parkland. It will include new sporting facilities, a 760ha biodiversity conservation corridor and natural bushland areas. Included in the park will be: A NEW $12 million, 128ha regional park at Doonside; MORE than 35km of walking and cycling trails; CONNECTIONS to M7 pathway; A $5 MILLION revegetation program and $1 million landscape gateway in Prospect; $20 MILLION for two sporting complexes and trail bike and BMX bike tracks; NEW picnic grounds and playgrounds; and OUTDOOR camping site for school and adventure programs. The land acquisition program has cost $140 million over 40 years. Over the past 10 years, more than 350,000 trees have been planted to restore some degraded paddock area to make them suitable for inclusion in the park. Incorporating reports from The Daily Telegraph and AAP

[Bussy]

Call me stupid, I'm sure many of you do anyway, but I don't see the relevance to Wonderland's closure. A green corridor, which is what this is, has very little to do with a theme park and there is nothing in that article to suggest any different. Yes there are going to be 800 jobs created in an employment park but if you look at the size of that compared to the overall size of the proposal it is very insignificant. "The Bus is now leaving for Corridor Bore, Western Australia"

[PattieBoi]

Whatever that park is called, I'm never visiting (if it opens) unless it has rides like Wonderland's rides!

[Nebuchanezzar]

Well good for you, but I don't think it's meant to be a visitor oriented park like Wonderland, seems more like a National Park or a ginat version of N.Y.'s Central Park. Could turn out nice.

[Nightshifter]

um if u read, it said that the land isnt for a theme park, it tell u at the bottom of the article what will be built, and theres no mention of a theme park and i would never see a theme park happen in australia in the next 10 years. All these ruomers are all wrong and you will never see a new theme park, all we will have is new ride at already existing theme park and the only park to do this and has been doing it lately is dreamworld.

[Guest galbraith]

You're a joke Nightshifter.

[PattieBoi]

um if u read, it said that the land isnt for a theme park, it tell u at the bottom of the article what will be built, and theres no mention of a theme park and i would never see a theme park happen in australia in the next 10 years. All these ruomers are all wrong and you will never see a new theme park, all we will have is new ride at already existing theme park and the only park to do this and has been doing it lately is dreamworld.

Your a freak! How would you know that there will not be a theme park in Australia anymore? Man, you should check your facts and grammar first before you post! (hehe sorry dan, I had to do the grammar part)