WestConnex has been highly controversial in Sydney's inner west. Credit:Peter Rae The Sydney Motorway Corporation has said in meetings with the Inner West Council that the cost of acquiring the bottle shop is a reason to use the land next to the school. The cost of using the Darley Road site, ultimately owned by RailCorp, is itself the product of a complicated and fractious property history. The lease of the site was acquired in 2007 by a company called Tdrahhciel (Leichhardt spelled backwards), part-owned by Shane Barr and Robby Ingham. But Tdrahhciel faced repeated obstacles in its quest to develop the land, Mr Barr said. Leichhardt Council opposed its plan to develop a shopping centre and bottle shop. And RailCorp, from whom he needed land-owner's consent to build, also resisted the proposals for years. In the meantime, Tdrahhciel was paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a year rent on the site. "This has actually cost me a lot of money," Mr Barr said on Tuesday.

Former Liberal leader turned lobbyist Kerry Chikarovski. Credit:Jessica Hromas Mr Barr said Ms Chikarovski, who is a former state Liberal leader turned lobbyist, "got me in front of the person" in government who could deal with the issue. But Mr Barr declined to name who that person was, or when the meetings took place. "I was able to prove the bureaucrats were way out of line in the way they treated me," Mr Barr said. "I said I don't want compensation. Just give me an extension of the lease," he said. Tdrahhciel was granted a 20-year extension of the lease on the Darley Road site in 2012. Ms Chikarovski said she assisted Mr Barr with "very extensive negotiations".

"I assisted him in the negotiations, which were over a considerable period of time, which involved his lawyers and the lawyers for the government as well," Ms Chikarovski said. She said the potential use of the site for a motorway was not contemplated by anybody at the time. "At the time of the negotiations, the government believed it had no further use for that land because the negotiation was around the amount of land that was required for the [nearby] light rail station," she said. Had RailCorp not granted Tdrahhciel a lease extension, the Sydney Motorway Corporation could have acquired the site for nothing next year. Tdrahhciel has since signed a sub-lease with Woolworths, the owner of Dan Murphy's, meaning that if the Sydney Motorway Company wanted to acquire the site, it could face a compensation bill in the order of $50 million, he said.

"I'm really furious at the bureaucrats involved," Mr Barr said. "This should have been put to bed years ago." "The bureaucrats have cost NSW a lot of money this one," Mr Barr said. Leichhardt residents and the Inner West Council, meanwhile, oppose both the Darley Road site and the site next to the high school for a tunnelling location. Christina Valentine, co-convenor of community group Leichhardt Against WestCONnex, said the Darley Road site was inappropriate for a tunnelling compound for a number of reasons. "The council rejected the development as not suitable for a large retail site on a number of occasions, and when the site was ultimately approved by the Land and Environment Court against the wishes of the community and the council, there were restrictions placed on truck movements," she said.

"It beggars belief it could be used for 200 trucks a day." A spokesman for Sydney Trains said RailCorp extended the lease following the confirmation of the location of the Leichhardt North Light Rail station. Correction: This story has been updated to reflect Sydney Motorway Corporation's statement that no school-owned land, including the oval, would be required if the site adjacent to Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt Campus was used.