Sydney Water and Strathfield Council are investigating options to update the Cooks River at Ford Park and Maria Reserve, Strathfield. The project may include potentially reinstating more natural conditions to the river by replacing some of the concrete banks with sandstone and restoring native vegetation.

The renewal program will look for opportunities improve water quality, ecology and social outcomes for customers. This will be achieved through naturalising the channel banks, where possible, and looking for opportunities to integrate water sensitive urban design in the adjacent open park spaces.

This work is in the initial stages of planning, and Sydney Water isn’t always able to naturalise the banks as it depends on available space, land conditions and other constraints. The project’s alignment and execution has taken environmentally sensitive areas into consideration and has taken the steps to minimise any environmental impacts.

Sydney Water and Strathfield Council will work collaboratively with the community to deliver these upgrades.

The community is invited to provide feedback until Sunday 19 June 2022, 5PM.

Update January 2024

In February 2024 Sydney Water advised that they are working on finalising reports for Ford Park and Maria Reserve for the current phase of the project and are preparing a business case to proceed to the next phase, concept design. Sydney Water are aiming to have the business case endorsed by mid-2024, with concept design commencing in Spring 2024.