craigv
Reviews
"Industrial waste land underneath."
Pro's:
Nice big parks, Olympic pool + water slide, nice pubs, A few small food shops, IGA, Golf course, medical centre...
Cons:
Where do i start...
As mentioned above, ICI/Orica had been storing industrial waste (HCB's) into the ground (The car-park at ICI next to the Athletic field) for many, many year. This waste liquid had escaped from the drums and into the ground soil and local under ground water supply. Now the waste has slowly traveled underground is now under a lot of the areas of botany and has even travel as far as the water line at Foreshore.
Botany rd is a nightmare from 7am-6pm with heaps and heaps of traffic. Truck movements on Botany rd (southern end) is also very, very high.
Pub on Botany rd is open 24hr on weekends, this is causing a fair bit of troubles with fighting, car break-ins, vandalism's, etc after people leave the pub drunk in the morning.
Can also have a bit of noise caused by the planes.
Living next to Botany rd you also get a heap of noise during the nights from the the police, fire, ambulance cars/trucks flying up and down the main road.
Would recommend if buying in the area to get something away from Botany rd.
Great for
- Parks
- Olympic pools
- Closeness to city beach
Not great for
- Heaps
Who lives here?
- Families with kids
- Retirees
- LGBT+
- Students
I think i could make a fair comment on both ICI/Orica and the Botany area as i worked there for well over 14years and lived on Botany rd for 9years and spent my whole life in the Randwick area.
ICI has spent a bit of money on the clean up, but its been a little bit to late. The toxic ground water plume has spread a lot further than has been reported in the press. With still the original toxic leaking chemicals drums still buried underneath the car-park next to the Athletic field. The plume has spread all the way to the sea water at Foreshore (swim at your own risk and sign posted there as well) Trucks still drive along Botany rd, (no policing happening) but no where near as many as there use to be. Botany rd is a nightmare, so very busy from 7am -5:30pm
Dont get me wrong, the area is great, fantastic swimming pool (i use every weekend) heaps of parks and open spaces, a few shops & the pub is nice and refurbished + medical centre as well. If you want to live close to everything (beach, city airport, etc) Botany is the only place people can afford to live in the Eastern Suburbs.
I lived on Botany rd down near Lord St.
We used to get all the drunks leaving the pub in the morning, walking North up Botany rd towards Mascot.
Breaking plants, smashing car windows, breaking into cars. This wasn't a one off event, but it happen every weekend.
Walking to the paper shop ever morning on the weekends i always saw the cops outside the pub.
The worst thing they ever did was allow the pub (which is located near all the shop) to trade for 24hr.
A very much polarized comment - Botany is one of the peaceful suburbs and the industrial areas are quite detached from the residential parts. It has less than five minutes' access to Foreshore road via either side of the Botany road, easy access to the airports and access to the CBD via Wentworth Ave - Westfield is also a stone's throw away and so the beaches.
Lived in Botany for 3 years. The pollution is bad...some mornings when you go outside you instantly smell jet fuel. Plane noise is bad, but not as bad as Leichhardt or Tempe. When you dust, it is black. The CBD is only about 9 kms away, but takes an hour door to door to get to in peak hour as there is no train station and every road route is busy. An outer suburb on a train line takes the same time. However...out of peak time 15 - 20 minutes by car to the CBD, VERY easy access by car to the south and M5. You can walk to the airport except for main roads or a train line. For us you can walk to the shops in under 5 minutes and they have everything but no butcher!!! It is very good value for money compared to Randwick/Coogee. Plenty of on street parking.
Orica and ICI are spending huge amounts of money cleaning up the ground water issue and have been for years . I guess if you lived next door it would be a problem however if you look on a map Botany is huge. Trucks no longer come along Botany road anymore. A link between Foreshore Drive has been built which connects Hale Street directly Foreshore Drive. Not sure about the pub I presume you mean the newly refurbished Waterworks. I must say I live about 400 m away from Botany Road and don't hear anything but that may be different if on the main road. e moved here after renting for many years in Paddo and Randwick. HELLO want to buy something with a yard under a mill 10 minutes from the city well Botany is the go. Hurry up though the prices are going up fast.