We have asked all the candidates for a statement of position on Rail Noise as they stand for North Sydney Council this year. 

You can download our summary HERE.

It is a long standing policy of North Sydney Council to support WWRNAG.

We have strong support across the board, and our current Mayor Jilly Gibson and her running partner Hugo Bauer have been very active in recent times helping to encourage action from EPA.  The Real Independents and Elle Prevost have also been active supporters.  We have collected all their positions into a pdf document for you to print out, and they are all set out below.

Team Jilly

Team Jilly Supports WWRNAG Action on Rail. Noise - Community Consultation

Team Jilly candidates for the Cammeraygal ward in the upcoming Council Elections on 4th December(current North Sydney Mayor Jilly Gibson and Hugo Bauer) met with members of the Waverton-Wollstonecraft Rail Noise Action Group (WWRNAG) on the 17th November.

In discussions with Brian McGlynn, Ken Shaw and Ian Links, Team Jilly gained a better understanding of the history of the WWRNAG efforts to fight rail noise impact on residents of Waverton and Wollstonecraft over 2 decades.

Team Jilly reiterated their ongoing support for WWRNAG and mitigation of the rail noise impact on residents of Waverton and Wollstonecraft.

As Mayor of North Sydney, Jilly Gibson had recently written to the CEO of Sydney Trains and the EPA strongly supporting the WWRNAG position. This undoubtedly encouraged the EPA to bring Sydney Trains to account - issuing a fine of $15,000 for poor maintenance of the rail infrastructure in mid-November.

WWRNAG indicated they were very keen for North Sydney Council (NSC) to initiate a community consultation process bringing together NSC, EPA, ST and WWRNAG aimed at fast tracking mitigation measures in general and the ELPA Slovenian Lubrication Trial in 2022.

Team Jilly strongly supports the proposal for NSC to initiate a Community Consultation process.

Waverton and Wollstonecraft Residents should Vote 1 above the Line for Team Jilly on Saturday, 4th December for concerted action on rail noise led by NSC.

The Real Independents

Statement from Councillors MaryAnn Beregi, Zoe Baker, Tony Carr and the Real Independents

We are long-time supporters of the current resolved Council position to support mitigation measures to address the impact of rail noise on residents of Waverton and Wollstonecraft.

We strongly support the State Government's initiative to trial further measures to ameliorate noise.

We are committed to immediately re-establishing Council's Working Group on Waverton-Wollstonecraft Rail Noise Mitigation and for the group to include representatives from WWRNAG, EPA, Transport for NSW, Council officers and ward councillors.  In addition, we are committed to Council initiating a community consultation process to expedite mitigation measures including the Trial of the ELPA lubrication system from Slovenia.

Elle Prevost

I have been a long standing member and contributor to WWRNAG, and have also lobbied both Jilly and Felicity for action. I have also highlighted the issue on the Wollstonecraft and Waverton Facebook page. I live in Waverton and am currently listening to the train noise. I couldn’t be more invested in this issue!

I feel council should play a pivotal role in ensuring community consultation in the development of any solutions.  I would like to see council participate in any initiative to encourage the testing of the ELPA Lubrication Solution and the long term monitoring of noise levels to ensure compliance to any agreed outcomes.

North Sydney 1st

As mentioned by yourself , this is a State Rail issue but am more than happy to support efforts to alleviate rail noise that is affecting surrounding residents as I did with residents along Warringah Freeway a few years back.

As a Liberal I can pursue this through Liberal State Channels but of course the more of my team I have in Council, the more persuasive I can be.

Hope that helps so yes am happy to go in and bat for you guys.

Cr Barbour

Sustainable Australia

Dear Brian and Waverton / Wollstonecraft Residents

Firstly, I’m sorry you’ve had to put up with this for so long. As a long-term resident of Shirley Rd, I remember Kristina Keneally promised to fix it over 10 years ago!

Sustainable Australia Party commits to supporting the following, if elected to NSC:

1. Full community participation in the enquiry and consultation process along with government – i.e. a seat at the table
2. A community forum with government and Transport NSW to properly discuss all of the problems
3. A proper trial of the ELPA technology as soon as possible

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or further clarification.

William Bourke

Georgia Lamb

Lead Candidates – North Sydney Council

Community 1st

Ian Mutton has been a supporter of our Group for several years, this is his comment:-

The state government is a happy to apply bandaids but rarely prepared to step up and solve problems in our LGA.

There’s not much the Council can do aside from joining your group when making representations to Government. I would support that approach through Council by moving a resolution to support and I expect most, if not all, councillors would support such a resolution.

James Spenceley

James Spenceley’s team has not yet given us a written policy.

Labor for North Sydney

I tried but could not contact Labor for North Sydney