Article Topic: Sydney Fish Market

Oops! How the mighty are fallen. Miraculously, no one was killed when a huge crane jib crashed to the ground at the Fish Market building site. Now the problem is how to remove and replace it.

Continuing complaints by residents about the Bridge Road cycleway, and concern about the extra traffic generated by the new Sydney Fish Market, are issues covered in this report.

The CCC achieved its biggest win this year, successfully objecting to raising Bridge Road in front of the new Sydney Fish Market. Members of the CCC argued raising Bridge Road would result in months of traffic disruption and could result in worse flooding at the Wentworth Park Road and Bridge Road intersection.

Our May issue reported plans to raise the height of Bridge Road in front of the new Fish Market. Asa Wahlquist reports that the risk of flooding at the junction of Wentworth Park Road and Bridge Road has convinced the developer not to proceed with the plan.

In his monthly report, Ian Stephenson, President, urges the state government to refurbish and extend 82 Wentworth Park Rd rather than demolish the building.

Infrastructure NSW plans to raise the height of Bridge Rd by one metre alongside the new Sydney Fish Market. Community representatives are raising questions about the impact on traffic, the risk of increased flooding where the raised road tapers off, and the impact on the majestic Moreton Bay figs in Wentworth Park alongside the road.

The Society has been working to nurture Glebe’s special magic for over 50 years. Our three pillars, community, environment and heritage, remain as relevant as ever. The fact that our membership grew by 10% to 449 shows we continue to engage the people of Glebe.

The Convenor of the Bays & Foreshores Subcommittee had her work cut out for her in 2021-2022, fighting massive overdevelopment in a number of locations around our foreshores.

What happens when you move a busy fish market, visited daily by hundreds of trucks and vans, buses and thousands of private vehicles, from a side street to a major arterial road? Traffic chaos, with an expected double the number of customers as the current Sydney Fish Market and almost double the retail space. The Glebe Society has also deep concerns about the impact of early morning fish industry traffic. The new market will have one vehicular entrance, opposite Wentworth Park Rd.

Glebe and Forest Lodge are great places to walk to see heritage streetscapes, significant historical buildings, the foreshore walk, parklands and to learn about a rich social and industrial history. See our program of Guided Walks for 2022.

A report on a fascinating guided walk in March that focussed on the Blackwattle Bay foreshore and the ecology of the area.

Transport for NSW officials have responded to urgent concerns over pedestrian safety along Bridge Rd, next to the construction site of the New Sydney Fish Market. Transport for NSW plans to improve signage ‘within a few weeks’, and that they were currently undertaking a pedestrian safety review, which they aim to implement ‘sooner rather than later’. The results of the review will not be publicly available.

Pedestrians walking along the Blackwattle Bay side of Bridge Rd will have to wait until the fourth quarter of next year, 2022, for a temporary pedestrian crossing to be installed near Wentworth Park Rd. A permanent crossing is scheduled for 2024, when the new Sydney Fish Markets will open.

Work at Sydney Fish Market (SFM) site is putting pedestrians at risk. It has been described as ‘an accident waiting to happen’. The footpath next to the new SFM site is frequently blocked, with pedestrians told to cross Bridge Rd, but with no assistance to do so.

The Management Committee continued working in transport and traffic matters even though the subcommittee did not have a convenor in 2020-2021. Particular concerns were the traffic associated with the building of the new Fish Markets and the Bridge Rd cycleway.