Campbelltown’s Figtree Hill landowners in limbo over koala safety road upgrade red tape

Owners who bought into a southwest Sydney development expected to be living in their homes by now. Instead, they have been thrown into red-tape limbo with no idea when construction will begin.

The street lights are in and ready to be turned on, but at the Figtree Hill development in Macarthur, nobody is home – because the state government is still refusing to let hundreds of landowners start building houses.

Bureaucratic red tape preventing developer Lendlease upgrading a 5km stretch of Appin Road to protect local koalas has thrown hundreds of landowners into limbo, and is holding up the construction of 1700 new homes 10 minutes from the Campbelltown-Macarthur centre.

Lendlease offered to fund and deliver the $170 million upgrade, but its proposal is still languishing in the bureaucracy – more than five years after it was first submitted.

Appin Rd needs to be upgraded to provide better safety for a local koala population before construction can start, but Transport for NSW has refused to say whether the upgrades can go ahead.

The delays preventing construction are indicative of the problems facing developers and landowners trying to build new homes to ease the housing crisis.

The lights are in but nobody is home, because construction cannot start until a road is upgraded. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Appin Road near the Figtree Hill development in Macarthur. Lendlease has now been forced to write to 450 customers telling them there is still no time frame on when their homes can be built, because Transport for NSW is yet to give the developer the green light to upgrade Appin Road. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Owner Nafeez Ahmed bought into the Figtree Hill development last year expecting to have moved in with his wife and nine-year-old daughter by now. Instead, his family has been left in limbo with no idea if their “dream house” will ever be completed.

The first stage of the Figtree Hill development has already sold out: 339 lots are ready for construction, with the remaining 111 due to be completed within three months.

Figtree Hill Boulevard. Photo: Supplied

“There is no doubt that this project has been with Transport for NSW for a long time,” Lendlease told 450 owners last month.

“We understand the impact that this uncertainty may have on your plans, and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.”

Figtree Hill as it currently looks. Picture: Supplied

Family bliss. An artist’s impression of what the development would look like if complete.

Under Lendlease’s proposal, two koala underpasses would be built to the local wildlife population.

In the past five years, 28 koalas have been hit and killed by cars on the stretch of road.

The Figtree Hill development in Macarthur, near Appin, as it appears today. Picture: Jonathan Ng

An artist’s impression of how Figtree Hill should look. Picture: Supplied

Mr Ahmed, who runs a solar installation company, bought a 400 square metre block of land at the development last year.

He currently lives with his family in a Campbelltown duplex.

“We wanted to build a dream house,” he said.

Landowner Nafeez Ahmed who hasn't been able to build on his land in the new Figtree Hill development amid bureaucratic red tape. Picture: Jonathan Ng

He thought construction would be take a “maximum of eight months, to a year”.

Mr Ahmed said he drives past his land twice a week.

“You can see it’s ready, but you’re not able to do anything,” he said.

Street signs have been installed for roads that have no houses. Photo: Lendlease.

He said he is “not confident at all” that his family will ever be able to move in.

The delays have left him “frustrated … financially as well as mentally”.

A TfNSW spokesman said the agency is still “working through the complexities and conflicting views from stakeholders regarding proposed measures”.

“Transport continues to work with local stakeholders regarding the design and delivery of the works,” he said.