Council needs to be consulted on Sydney Metro

City of Canterbury Bankstown Mayor, Khal Asfour, has slammed Sydney Metro, for their lack of communication and engagement with Council on what is to be Australia’s biggest ever public transport project.

Last week, Sydney Metro announced there would be reduced closures of Bankstown Station while upgrades occur, and station buildings along the 108-year-old T3 Bankstown Line would be retained due to their heritage character.

"The first time Council heard these plans was in the media this week," Mayor Asfour said.

"Council is a key stakeholder in this project. The Metro affects our 360,000 residents and will continue to affect our entire City, and our growing population, for decades to come – and Sydney Metro didn’t think to communicate with us at all? If that’s not seriously concerning, I don’t know what is.

"Our staff have been constantly hounding Sydney Metro for any sort of information, in fact, we’ve contacted them every other day for the last three weeks – and we’ve simply been ignored."

Mayor Asfour said Council remains concerned about the lack of detail.

"We, and our residents, need to know how long Bankstown Station will actually be closed – it’s a major hub and its closure has the ability to disrupt hundreds of thousands of people," Mayor Asfour said.

"We also need to know how many station buildings along the T3 Line will be retained, and which buildings they are. We have been provided with not a single piece of information or detail on this change.

"And of course, none of this is actually set in stone – we’re still awaiting the Preferred Infrastructure Report."

Upon review of the Sydney Metro website, Council has discovered public consultation sessions have been scheduled within Canterbury-Bankstown on:

"Again, something else they failed to communicate to us until after it was public," Mayor Asfour said.

"How are we supposed to encourage our community to be informed and educated when Sydney Metro refuses to inform and educate Council?

"All Council wants, is to be able to collaborate with Sydney Metro, so our community, our City and the Sydney region sees the best results possible."