Badgerys Creek residents complaining government is forcing them to live next to the airport

IN A storyline that could have come straight out of the Australian classic movie The Castle, residents on the last two streets of Badgerys Creek claim they are being stuffed around by the authorities.

IN A storyline that could have come straight out of the Australian classic movie The Castle, residents on the last two streets of Badgerys Creek claim they are being stuffed around by the authorities.

Fifty-three homeowners on Martin and Lawson Rds are locked in a battle with the state government over what was once their little piece of rural serenity.

Their situation is the opposite to the Kerrigan family of The Castle, whose home was being forcibly acquired by an expanding airport, forcing them to take their battle to live in their “castle” to the High Court.

Instead, these homeowners are complaining the government is forcing them to live next door to the airport, when they want to sell up and move out.

Angry residents from Lawson Rd in Badgerys Creek say they don’t want to be stuck in limbo like Darryl Kerrigan was in The Castle. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

With construction of the $5.3 billion Western Sydney Airport due to start later this year, residents are calling on Planning Minister Anthony Roberts to rezone their land from rural to industrial/employment.

That rezoning would double the price of their land, securing the future for their families. Many have been living in the area for more than 40 years.

MORE: Driverless buses to second airport in little as 20 minutes

MORE: Glimpse of what Badgerys Creek airport may look like

MORE: Badgerys Creek to create 10,00 more jobs than firs thought

Residents say that they have been unable to develop and add value to their land for more than 30 years because successive governments did not want to have to compensate landholders if and when the airport was built.

However, two companies have been able to purchase land in the area and are expected to open waste management facilities in the next 18 months.

They said if the rezoning doesn’t go through, the least the state government can do is spare them from the dust and noise of a tip next door.

Residents say their situation is the opposite to the Kerrigan family from Aussie classic The Castle. Picture: Supplied

“We do not want to be stuck in limbo and ignored by the authorities like Darryl Kerrigan was in The Castle,” landholder Diana Vukovic told The Sunday Telegraph.

“We want the government to listen to us. At the end of the day the government is for the people. We pay their wages.

“I tried contacting Mr Roberts but heard nothing. Politicians of both sides have been ignoring us for years and we are sick of it.

“We will fight for what the land is worth but how can we handle eight years of dust and noise 24/7 and then being directly under a flight path?

“I’ve got five acres, which is worth about $5 million. If it gets rezoned we are looking at potentially $10m.”

RELATED

In March this year Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and eight mayors released the Western Sydney City Deal.

That plan sets out the infrastructure needed to build a new city around the airport.

A Department of Planning spokesman said to guide this development, “the Department is preparing an Interim Infrastructure Land use and Implementation Plan for land within the Western Sydney Airport Growth Area”.

That plan will detail how land can be developed.

An artist impression of the new Badgerys Creek airport.

“We acknowledge that current landowners would like some certainty, so will be releasing this plan for public exhibition soon, and we will encourage residents and businesses to participate in the consultation process,” he said.

Liverpool Council Chief Executive Officer Kiersten Fishburn said they are “not in a position to discuss zonings of individual sites”.

“It (council) is currently involved in ongoing negotiations with the Department of Planning and Environment and other stakeholders about the long-term land use plans for the area surrounding Western Sydney Airport,” she said.