Category: People

2019 AGM report

On Thursday, October 17th, the Trust held it’s AGM in the Pennant Hills Bowling club. Around 30 members attended, and engaged in discussions.

The evening started with a presentation by Dr Michael Easson of EG Group, about how to enable development projects that can achieve significant support in the local community, presenting some examples of good urban design.

We were pleased to have Hornsby Councillors Joe Nicita, Robert Brown, and deputy-mayor Michael Hutchence in the audience. They engaged in a lively Q&A session with the members at the end of the AGM.

President’s report

Who are the community of Pennant Hills and are we connecting with them all?

In 2016,

  • There are 7827 people in Pennant Hills
  • Median age 40 years old
  • 1984 families
  • 2704 private dwellings
  • 62% with a bachelor’s degree or above diplomas and certificates
  • Country of birth Australia 59.3, China6.6%, India 4%, England 3.4%, South Korea 2.5%
  • Religion 28.5% no religion, 21.9% catholic, 14.4% Anglican 4.5% Hinduism and 7.2 % not stated
  • Employment 59.9 % fulltime employment and 30.3% part time
  • Dwelling 93% occupied private dwellings, 11.4% Semi-detached, row or terrace house, townhouse and apartment 12.8%.
  • 30 aboriginal and Terre Strait Islands with average age 15

Trust activities

We met with Matt Kean concerning the Pennant Hills Master Plan Bike path and North Connex bringing the streets back to the local community. We had mayoral meetings and meetings with individual councillors.

Regular attendance to the council meetings and addresses where appropriate on the second Wednesday of the month and attendance to IHAP meetings on the last Wednesday of the month.

We have supported local Environmental Issues through the good work of committee member Monika Ball such as a clean-up of a creek in Cherrybrook.

Made representations to council concerning a proposed local pre-school centre.

Made submissions to council over issues, where they sought public input, such as the such as the Hornsby Draft Local Strategic Planning Statement.

Made proposals to the council for local initiatives, one being public access to Pennant Hills High ovals, the water quality of the creek at the end of Bellamy Street and the proposal of the Six Places Bushland Walk modelled in the 5 Lands walk on the central coast.

Communications

We try to reach all people in the community by a combination of methods. In relation to communication with members we have relied on word of mouth, monthly email updates, Monthly Chronicle community items, the webpage and regular updates on our Face book page.

Thank you

Special thanks go to:

  • Noel Oxley thanks for his strategic focus, work on communicating to key stakeholders, his strategic vision and keeping us on track.
  • David Thomas for your attention to detail in his role as Treasurer, good humour and for your work in compliance and policy.
  • Norman Parris thanks for his expertise on policy, submissions in relation to the Greater Sydney Commission and you focus on the Pennant Hills Master Plan

We are a voluntary organisation, so thanks to all those who have contributed in 2018-2019 including the Hornsby Historical Society for access to their premises for our meeting.

Finally, thankyou you to the Trust Committee members. We are a divergent group and I can confidently say we represent the different interest groups in the community.  Also, thank you to you the members who are engaged in the community and are trying to make a difference to the community in which we live.

To wrap up I guess we can say in relation to the Pennant Hills Community “we cannot connect with them all, but we can connect with more”.

The 2019/2020 Executive Committee consists of Otte Homan (President), Andrew Wilson (VP), Martin Plüss (VP), Julian Rego (Treasurer), Judy Vincent (Secretary) and members Monika Ball, Paul Bryant, Annemarie Diepenbroek, Michael Rosettenstein and Paul Taylor.

Martin Pluss
Vice President 

Touching Base with local Civic Trusts

Ross Walker (Beecroft Civic Trust), Janet McGarry and Mike Moffatt (Epping Civic Trust) and Noel Oxley (Pennant Hills Civic Trust) met last week to discuss issues of common interest: – Overdevelopment – especially on Epping East side with towers of 15-20 storeys under construction – Engagement with our local councils – Communication with our individual membership – Joint campaigning on common issues

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Civic Trust members meet local Member Matt Kean

The PHDCT recently met with our State member, Matt Kean to talk about some of the issues affecting Pennant Hills. Our primary concern involves the need for an updated Plan for our local area which recognises the unique character of Pennant Hills, preserves the best features of our community and green environments and provides a vision of how Pennant Hills should be improved to cater for additional residents and a wider mix of housing styles.

Matt is aware of the push back across Sydney to perceptions of over development and advised us that there would be no new housing targets in Hornsby Shire until after next state election ( March 2019). Our Council is intending that any new housing targets will be met from Hornsby CBD redevelopment.

Matt and our Council are working together to find a solution to the financial impacts the 2017 council amalgamation boundary changes had on Hornsby. It’s a complex issue but in Matt Kean and Philip Ruddock we have some skilled politicians on our side.

You will have seen in our recent emails the discussion of opportunities for an exciting new bike track from Pennant Hills to Epping. As a keen bike rider, Matt supports this initiative and is on side for the difficult discussions which need to be held with Transport for NSW in overcoming the safety issues they see in community using the rail corridor land. Again we are fortunate in having support from Matt, Philip Ruddock and Epping State MLA Damien Tudehope.

As a new resident of Pennant Hills, Matt is getting a better understanding of the traffic, parking and transport interchange issues of Pennant Hills.

We agreed to continue meeting on a regular basis so we can work together to make Pennant Hills a better place to live, work and play.
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New book preserves history

With parts of old Pennant Hills disappearing fast, the community benefits from stories of earlier lifestyles being recorded.

A new book tells of interesting changes in part of Pennant Hills over the last 200 years.

Beginning with the Aboriginal Person, Tedbury, the book covers the purchase of 25 acres in 1887 by Donnelly Fisher, grandson of WC Wentworth, and life in his old home, Killaloe, on Victoria Road. Continue reading “New book preserves history”