WalkSydney 2024 Local Government elections

This year, WalkSydney reached out to local politicians in Greater Sydney to gauge their support for walkability in their LGAs. Below are their responses.

If you don’t see your candidates, feel free to send them the survey – https://forms.gle/ZTtNrdLEteGG4A7q7

We’ll keep updating with any responses we receive in the leadup to the election on 14 Sep 2024.

Group summary

Download full set of responses (as a Google Sheet)

Last updated 11 Sep 2024

Individual responses

See below for full responses or download full Google Sheet

LGA	Name	Party	What are your thoughts about improving walkability in the LGA
Bayside	Dominic Galvin	Peaceful Bayside	Ward 4 of Bayside is a hostile environment for pedestrians. We had a pedestrian fatality in April and unfortunatley this has not been a catalyst for chage. We need urgent action from council to make our streets safe and deliver on proposed strategies including the green grid corridors.
Bayside	Carolin Wenzel	Peaceful Bayside	Bayside residents are hemmed in by too many dangerous and busy streets – the Princes Highway, Forest Rd, Bexley Rd, Stoney Creek Rd, the Grand Parade – with too many pedestrian fatalities. We need more safe crossings for these pseudo highways and more streets and spaces that put people first.
Bayside	Peter Strong	The Greens	Cars have ruled for too long , we need to take a cue from European cities and make our suburbs more bike and foot friendly
Bayside	Greta Werner	The Greens	Walkability is crucial to foster community connection and manage the transition to sustainable transport
Bayside	Paul Wade	The Greens	Slowing down traffic in our residential streets and neighbourhood centres, working towards a coherent and high quality walking and cycling network, and focusing initially on walking and cycling routes to schools.
Bayside	Maria Poulos	Peaceful Bayside	This is a priority issue – creating continuous footpaths and connecting green spaces
Bayside Council	Bash Sawalha	The Greens
Bayside	Miles Richards	The Greens	I believe that improving walkability in an area is incredibly important. I think designing streets for people not cars makes the area more accessible to everyone, as well as allowing for a stronger sense of community and connection between suburbs.
Camden	Peter Adam McLean	Independent	It is crucial for our community, health, wellbeing and the environment.
Canada Bay City Council	Andrew Ferguson	Labor	I stringly support this but with appropriate and meaningful community consultation
Canterbury-Bankstown	David Walsh	Labor	Revesby Ward needs more footpaths and bike paths. This is something I have raised both in council meetings and to council staff. Unfortunately, we lack the financial capacity to fully maintain current assets let alone build new assets. The new footpaths being built are dependent on state grants.
City of Blue Mountains	Suzie Van Opdorp	Labor	I completely support making our towns more walkable and ensuring the safety of pedestrians is a top priority. One of the problems for local government in this state is we do not have the resources to build more footpaths, adapt roads. We are completely reliant on funding programs for infrastructure.
City of Ryde	Bernard Purcell	Labor	Labor is committed to alternative transport systems – active walking / cycling is a priority.
City of Sydney	Clover Moore	Clover Moore Independent Team	Improving walkability is a key priority exemplified by the City’s successful pedestrianisation of George Street reclaiming over 26,000sqm of former roadway for people, including adjacent streets. It ensures places are safer, more inclusive and more pleasant for everyone.
Cumberland	Glenn Elmore	Labor	Build more walkable infrastructure.
Hawkesbury	Nathan Zamprogno	Independent	A LGA as large as Hawkesbury limits walkability in all areas, but within town centres and rideability in semi rural areas remains important to facilitate. I do not agree with lowering speed limits, and prefer providing adequate footpaths and crossings as a better solution.
Inner West	Jamie Parker / Inner West Council	The Greens	There needs to be a whole of government approach to prioritise active transport, pedestrian safety and to reduce car dependency. This needs to be done in consultation with the community and can have significant benefits for the entire community.
Inner West	Justine Langford	The Greens	Active transport needs to be prioritised over private transport in our area. This means more cycleways, better quality footpaths, better lighting, better infrastructure, more street trees.
Lane Cove	Bridget Kennedy	Independent	Some of our rsidental verges currently have uneven surfaces. creating tripping hazards One side of the street may have a footpath, requiring people with strollers, or in wheelchairs or walkers to have to cross the road to have a safe walking surface. We should create permeable footpath surfaces.
Newcastle	Charlotte McCabe	The Greens	There are huge improvements that the Newcastle LGA could make to encourage more people to feel safe enough to walk. We now have our pedestrian mobility action plan, but we need councillors to prioritise this to ensure that it’s implemented over the next term of council.
Newcastle	Sinead Francis-Coan	The Greens	Walkability is a key component of liveable cities. Walkability is also a key factor in 20 minute neighbourhoods where people are able to access their primary needs without travelling longer than 20 minutes.
North sydney	Shannon Welch	Labor	We are in a climate crises. Walking & cycling decrease our carbon footprint. Making our streets safer for walking & cycling will encourage more people to get out of their cars which will be better for their health & the environment.
Northern Beaches	Sue Heins	Your Northern Beaches Independent Team	We have a large LGA and don’t believe one size fits all however there are some areas that need need a focussed effort to create safe areas for walkability
Northern Beaches Council	Bonnie Harvey	The Greens	Council needs to continue to invest in having a safe and consistent footpath network around the LGA, including improving the safety of crossings, slowing calming measures, separated cycle paths, and maintenance.
Randwick	Aaron Magner	Labor	Our streets and pathways are the public commons, not just somewhere for cars to drive and park. I support and will advocate for safe, healthy, and people-friendly streets in Randwick that are walkable, vibrant and welcoming public spaces
Randwick	Clare Willington	The Greens	Walking is healthy for people and good for the environment. Improving walkability should be core business for council.
Randwick	Philipa Veitch	The Greens	I support the introduction of more bike paths, signalised and pedestrian crossings, slower speed limits and wider more accessible footpaths
Randwick	Kym Chapple	The Greens	Making it safer and more desirable to walk, run and ride are key goals for me on council – particularly to make it easier for kids to get to school and for commuting by walking or riding to be appealing for more people. With an aging population supporting safe walking is particularly important!
Randwiy	Noel D’Souza	Independent	It’s very important to decrease our Carbon footprint and improve our general health. Walking allows us to address both these concerns.
Sutherland Shire	Carmelo Pesce	Candidate for Shire Independants	The sense of safety, risk and impact of these harms are different for women, men and children and need to be designed through a gendered lens, taking into account the known vulnerabilities and the current child safeguarding policies that apply to schools, sports fields and those who provide service
Willoughby	Robert Samuel	Community independent with no party affiliations	. As part of the building approval process for high rise near transit we are retrieving new footpath space. Our public spaces strategy includes increased pedestrian linkages. We continue to invest every year in maintaining and increasing footpaths.
Willoughby	Tanya Taylor	Independent	Making our streets safer, and more accessible for those walking, in wheelchairs or with impeded mobility is vital. I’ve spearheaded walkability initiatives across our LGA including barrier fencing, improved footpaths and new shared paths, and an Active Travel Program at Willoughby PS.
Wollongong	Linda Campbell	Labor	footpaths and safe routes are important
Wollongong	Liberal Candidate for Wollongong Ward 2	Liberal	The biggest challenge is for Council/s to install footpaths within 1Km radius of Schools to provide a safer option for Children, Parents and Grandparents to walk to & from School
Wollongong City Council	Tania Brown	Labor	Our city has poor rates of non-car travel for work, school, recreation and shopping. We have in previous budgets doubled the footpath budget and will continue to look for new ways to find internal and external grant funding to increase the quantum, quality and connectivity of our footpaths.
Woollahra	Lucinda Regan	Residents First Independents Woollahra	I agree that opportunities should always be explored to promote and support walking as an active transport mode.