{"id":544627,"date":"2026-03-16T19:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T19:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/544627\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T19:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T19:19:09","slug":"not-quiet-on-the-weston-front-the-once-sleepy-sydney-street-suddenly-at-war-over-the-greenway-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/544627\/","title":{"rendered":"Not quiet on the Weston front: the once-sleepy Sydney street suddenly at war over the GreenWay | Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a sunny Saturday morning, halfway along Sydney\u2019s newly opened inner west GreenWay<\/a>, a dozen frustrated residents gather with notebooks and pens. \u201cI\u2019m angry,\u201d one says. \u201cI\u2019m really angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group is holding a snap meeting with one of the local councillors to voice their concerns about the GreenWay, the pedestrian and cycling corridor that runs for 6km from Iron Cove to the Cooks River, almost entirely off-road.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the \u201calmost\u201d part that bothers the residents of Weston Street in Dulwich Hill.<\/p>\n

Pedestrians make their way along Weston Street in Dulwich Hill. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Their modest street with narrow footpaths forms a link between the northern and southern sections of the $57m trail where there is no straightforward option to take it off-road.<\/p>\n

Since the GreenWay opened in mid-December, it has become a cycling, running and walking utopia, attracting thousands of visitors, especially at weekends. But as those visitors pass about 80 homes along Weston Street, the residents have become increasingly disturbed, to the point where some say they face a \u201cHerculean tsunami of a community-wide mental health crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n

The broad consensus of the participants in the meeting is that, without urgent action, someone is going to get seriously injured or killed by a vehicle. Secondary to that is the noise disruption and impact of a sudden swarm of people on their once-quiet residential street.<\/p>\n

The Weston Street link on the GreenWay<\/a><\/p>\n

They say dog poo is getting put in their bins. Cyclists are flipping the bird when told by residents to get out of the way. Joggers are loudly talking to each other in the early morning. Garden beds on nature strips and in front yards are being trampled. They can\u2019t leave their homes without feeling like they\u2019re crossing a highway.<\/p>\n

As the meeting kicks off, cyclists, strollers, joggers and dogs gleefully pass by. Children mill about on scooters. Women in athletic wear grip coffees.<\/p>\n

The Inner West mayor, Darcy Byrne, says the GreenWay is going \u201cgangbusters\u201d.<\/p>\n

It has become a hotspot for run clubs and tour groups, who bus in by the dozens. The day the residents hold their meeting in early March, Byrne reveals that plans for a GreenWay half-marathon<\/a> are in the works, part of a series of six events a year he hopes will attract more and more people.<\/p>\n

There has already been a Sydney<\/a> bike rave down the route \u2013 attended by about 200 people, including rollerbladers \u2013 featuring upbeat rave music blasted through speakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe GreenWay is going gangbusters UP MY STREET,\u201d one user comments on Byrne\u2019s social media post. \u201cYou can\u2019t be serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another wrote: \u201cWeston Street is no longer the safe, quiet residential street it once was. It feels like only a matter of time before a serious accident occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Death corner\u2019<\/p>\n

The GreenWay has been a wild success in its first three months.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Inner West council says use of the corridor has been \u201cperforming above expectation\u201d and proving \u201cincredibly popular\u201d with locals and visitors.<\/p>\n

But the more popular it gets, the more trouble brews on Weston Street.<\/p>\n

Supplied images of signs on Weston Street. Composite: Supplied<\/p>\n

In the street\u2019s WhatsApp group, locals voice their angst in lengthy messages, share pictures and videos of poor behaviour from visitors and discuss the best united path forward.<\/p>\n

Angry signs have been erected, torn down and erected again. \u201cFINISH THE GREENWAY,\u201d one reads, alluding to calls to find a different route that avoids Weston Street.<\/p>\n

Anther signs states: \u201cREMOVING OUR SIGNS SIMPLY CONFIRMS THE LEGITIMACY OF OUR ARGUMENT!\u201d and \u201cRESIDENTS WILL NOT BE TREATED AS 2ND CLASS CITIZENS BY 2ND RATE POLITICIANS!\u201d<\/p>\n

double quotation markThere has already been a Sydney bike rave down the route \u2013 attended by about 200 people<\/p>\n

Then there are the letters sent to the council. They stress that locals support the concept of the GreenWay, including bush regeneration and new public artworks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe streetscape, designed to encompass the existing natural geography, mature trees, and added artwork is truly beautiful,\u201d one reads.<\/p>\n

But it warns that the use of a \u201cnarrow residential street\u201d is creating \u201cescalating safety risks\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another letter warns that a resident has \u201calready been struck by a runner while undertaking a routine activity (taking out rubbish bins). The runner did not stop or check for injury\u201d.<\/p>\n

It continues: \u201cResidents\u2019 dogs frequently bark or retreat in fear as GreenWay users\u2019 dogs congregate at residential gates.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letters make a number of suggestions, including implementing a shared-zone speed limit of 20km\/h, installing \u201ctraffic calming measures\u201d such as patrolling rangers or police, improving signage and redirecting traffic.<\/p>\n

Riders enjoying the GreenWay. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The GuardianPeople on the GreenWay by the Waratah Mills light rail stop heading towards Weston Street. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Until then, they say, the risk of serious injury is \u201cnot a matter of if \u2013 but when\u201d. Images sent to the council refer to the exit from a tunnel on to Weston Street next to the Waratah Mills light rail stop as \u201cdeath corner\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is on \u201cdeath corner\u201d that the first incident of the meeting occurs. A man walking a baby in a pram strolls out of the tunnel and \u2013 instead of veering on to the footpath \u2013 continues into the middle of the road. There are no cars, but the group members gesture to him in exasperated fatigue.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got an extraordinarily tolerant street here,\u201d one says. \u201cThis would never happen in the northern suburbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group bursts into laughter. \u201cWe need more barristers!\u201d someone calls.<\/p>\n

Later, they are standing on the road pointing out a segment of the street where repeated use has worn down the nature strip, when a group of cyclists approaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet out of the way,\u201d one of them calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our street,\u201d a resident yells, and is promptly given the middle finger.<\/p>\n

\"ExperienceExperience Sydney’s new GreenWay trail on its grand opening in this immersive 360 capture \u2013 videoTroops of tourists<\/p>\n

Mark Chinnock and Juraj Hubinsky, who are trimming their hedge at the time of Saturday\u2019s meeting, are concerned that the social cohesion on their street is being worn away.<\/p>\n

They have lived there for seven years and say neighbours used to gasbag about all kinds of things. But now the GreenWay dominates everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the WhatsApp group, I wake up in the morning, I clear it from the day before, and then I get home from work and there\u2019s like 100 messages,\u201d Chinnock says.<\/p>\n

He says they were excited about the GreenWay, and always supported it, but the Weston Street section is \u201cnot fit for purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t agree with the passive-aggressive remarks that you might see around, because we don\u2019t want to be labelled nimbys. We actually want it here, but it just needs to be better managed.\u201d<\/p>\n

double quotation markOur little piece of suburban Australiana has gone.Residents\u2019 group<\/p>\n

Chinnock says a safer option would be to divert some traffic on to the adjacent, wider Windsor Road.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re woken up every morning by joggers and people talking on their phones, and then the afternoons are the funniest when you\u2019ve got troops of tourists coming through [by] the coach load,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Hubinsky was initially \u201cthrilled\u201d about the GreenWay but takes issue with its promotion as an \u201cuninterrupted green corridor\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually interrupted, and it\u2019s not so green here because it\u2019s a road,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a footpath next to where people live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hubinsky says he complained to the council about walkers and joggers using the road, and was told signs could be put up to direct them on to the footpath.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut my argument was that it\u2019s already too busy,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople are on the road because they can\u2019t fit on the footpath. It just doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chinnock says with a laugh: \u201cWhen we come out of the house, I have to literally say, \u2018coming out!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Pedestrians make their way along the narrow footpath on Weston Street in Dulwich Hill. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The GuardianA stern sign for the public using the GreenWay. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

A group of residents, who say they wish to remain anonymous over fears for their safety, said in a joint statement they could \u201cno longer safely gather outside our homes or interact casually in the street\u201d.<\/p>\n

The group say they face a \u201cbuilding, Herculean tsunami of a community-wide mental health crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cumulative toll on residents\u2019 mental, physical and emotional wellbeing, with visible and clear signs of distress, are here, but have yet to be fully realised. Our little piece of suburban Australiana has gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cost of freedom<\/p>\n

The council spokesperson says the GreenWay was \u201ccarefully designed over decades, informed by extensive community consultation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to work with our local community to respond to feedback. There is ongoing work to review and address safety and accessibility in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The environmental planning consultant Bruce Ashley, who has been a key advocate for the GreenWay for more than two decades<\/a>, is on the route almost every day doing \u201cguerrilla weeding\u201d.<\/p>\n

He says the GreenWay still needs \u201ca lot of input\u201d.<\/p>\n

An ebike on the GreenWay. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest fear is people will think the path is built so we can switch off but the whole idea was to engender a new way of looking at your own local area and being involved,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Ashley says a number of improvements could be made to the Weston Street section, including path widening, a speed limit and making a section one way. As part of the GreenWay upgrades, the street was closed at Old Canterbury Road and is now accessible only to local traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve gone from a very quiet street in terms of number of people to a lot of people,\u201d Ashley says. \u201cBut at the same time, the street is no longer a through route, it was used as a shortcut \u2026 and now it\u2019s closed off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bigger picture, Ashley says, is seeing the enjoyment people are getting out of a project that was a pipe dream for so many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was weeding the other day and saw a young girl, seven or eight, cycling with her dad down Weston Street,\u201d he says. \u201cShe turned and said to him: \u2018This is like freedom\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what you do it for.\u201d<\/p>\n