HG Nelson remembers: How James Valentine and I saved Sydney from itself

April 25, 2026 — 5:00am

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A very sad week for fans of radio talkback, the saxophone, jazz and cuisine when the news broke that Sydney icon and ball of style James Valentine had pulled the pin on a decades-long career, leaving a gaping hole between our ears and in our hearts.

What was lost in the avalanche of tributes to one of the great minds of radio and life in this city was any acknowledgment of the contribution Valentine made to an understanding of planning for Sydney. Let’s take a moment to remember EGSPEC – the Even Greater Sydney Planning Committee – a weekly half-hour must-listen on Valentine’s program for 702 ABC Sydney. As his co-contributor on that segment for eight years, I kept the minutes for what became an essential cat flap into understanding the wild growth of Sydney and the state of NSW.

Valentine, for instance, understood the light rail construction was in trouble when no one in the crew bothered to dial before they dug up George Street. This led to excruciating discovery that tracks had been laid along this strip decades before. And that was just the beginning of the hurdles.

And EGSPEC had a roving commission, aware that Macquarie Street used its planning powers to persuade electorates beyond the city to cough up votes. Valentine was very impressed by Duke of Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire’s ability to squeeze money out of the NSW parliament, whether it be for a recital hall, a shotgun museum or a rifle range.

Then there was Valentine’s excellent idea, sadly one not realised in his lifetime: the Darwin-to-Dubbo Canal, which received enthusiastic local support. Or his dream that the town of Ivanhoe could become a regional pest control and shooting hotspot. As he said, “All roads lead to Ivanhoe!”

‘Give me your love, so I can take it with me’: James Valentine’s living funeral

There are many planning authorities lurking at the development coalface, from local councils, state instrumentalities, local action groups, tech bros with an idea, hedge fund Johnnies with a pocketful of folding, and concerned citizens with a powerful NIMBY voice. Valentine knew more was needed. He established EGSPEC as an umbrella group that oversaw Sydney’s enthusiasm to knock everything down then repurpose the land, persuading governments of all colours to bend development and finance rules along the way. Rinse and repeat endlessly.

Citizens were distraught every time they stepped out their front door wondering which clowns in the big house had allowed that heap of shit to be hurled skywards without any oversight. Ever practical, James would ask: “Where will the cars be parked?”

There were the heady days of the Bera/Bara government. Gladys Berejiklian (Lib) and John Barilaro (Nat) were the twin pillars holding up the bridge of urban progress and had the run of the joint. James, through EGSPEC, came up with the following guidelines to take the horror out of the planning nightmare.

First, never announce the start date for a project; never announce a completion date for any work, no matter how small; never announce a budget figure; and, above all, never announce a budget review. Any of these would push the populace into panic. Disobeying these fixed ideas led to madness and outrage in the community. Such easy rules to follow to avoid so much pain.

Witty and warm, James Valentine lifted the spirits of a city

These principles gave us a framework in which the committee assessed the failure of Spanish trains to fit on Sydney tracks or the endless announcement of the Sydney-to-Newcastle very fast train, which became a heritage-listed political announcement and therefore could never be built, and why the Blue Mountains tunnel was both a terrific idea and a total dud.

Many of Valentine’s first-class ideas will no doubt become part of the city as the pressure of population forces a re-examination of EGSPEC’s vital work. He was very keen on a system of above-ground tunnels to ease traffic congestion. He even tried to persuade defence forces to swerve around the use of submarines as they were too noisy, too slow, prone to break down, and the war would be over by the time they turned up. He understood that, in the future, war would be largely fought by teenagers in double garages with joy-sticks, firing off drones in all directions. Look how that turned out.

Finally, Valentine had such a generous spirit that he allowed me – every week on Thursday afternoons – to talk about solutions for potholes and turning mine sites into racetracks. So much so that many Sydneysiders only know me through my work at the planning EGSPEC coalface with James Valentine. He will be missed as the city grows.

HG Nelson is a broadcaster, sportscaster and the long-time co-host of Rampaging Roy Slaven. Roy & HG’s programs have included This Sporting Life on radio and The Dream on television. They currently present Bludging on the Blindside on ABC Radio on Saturdays at noon. James Valentine died, at 64, on Wednesday.

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© The Sydney Morning Herald