Moore Point revamp including 11,000 homes faces scrap heap after decade of red tape

After more than a decade of grappling with departmental red tape, backers of a city shaping development near the Liverpool CBD are prepared to walk away.

A lauded-Liverpool development which would house up to 25,000 new residents is facing the scrap heap, with backers of the proposal set to pull the pin after spending nearly a decade of grappling with infuriating red tape.

Coronation Property, who first lodged plans in 2015 to demolish a shabby industrial zone at Moore Point for a new city including more than 11,000 homes, shops, cafes and a school, have issued the ultimatum in a written letter to Premier Chris Minns after their most recent setback this month.

It comes after the developer emerged from their latest round of meetings with the NSW Planning Department with orders to complete new flood studies which they say will take 18 months.

That is despite the project already being assessed and cleared by the NSW Flood Advisory Panel last year as well as multiple mandated flood evacuation studies in the preceding years – as well as the area having no records of flooding.

The latest artist's impressions for the Moore Point development, which includes more than 11,000 homes.

The letter to Mr Minns, sent earlier this month, calls on the Premier to “devise a solution as a matter of urgency because Coronation Property does not want to throw away 10 years of investment and effort … However, the current situation is no longer tenable and requires certainty from Government, immediately”.

Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger called the 10-year delay “pathetic”.

“To take 10 years to not make a decision is pathetic, and people should be held accountable for that laziness,” Mr Borger said.

The looming blow for western Sydney comes ahead of The Daily Telegraph’s Future West summit next week, which will discuss the challenges and opportunities facing western Sydney.

Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest said the decade of red tape didn’t align with the NSW Government’s housing reforms it is pushing in a bid to build 75,000 homes a year.

The Moore Point development would replace a swathe of shabby industrial land.

“It’s time the state government stepped in and make sure their rhetoric about housing supply is backed by their agencies,” he said.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said axing the project, which was heralded by then-Treasurer Dominic Perrottet as the ‘Barangaroo of the west’ in 2021, would be “devastating”.

“It’s amazing how Rosehill (racecourse redevelopment) can get support from the Premier when no application has been lodged – yet something that’s been worked on for 10 years and is southwest Sydney’s biggest opportunity in years gets zero government support,” he said.

The proposal would result in a new city springing up on the banks of the Georges River.

A Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure spokesman said the proposal “presents significant opportunity to provide for new housing, but the evacuation and flooding impacts are real challenges … and need to be worked through to make sure we are not putting people at unnecessary risk”.

The spokesman confirmed further work was required “to give the Department certainty that the 12,500 vehicles proposed on the site will not exceed the site’s capacity for evacuation and increase risk to life in nearby areas in an emergency flood event”.

The Department claimed the work should only take an extra month to complete, something rejected in Coronation Property’s letter.

Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue founder Chris Brown said the government’s latest requirement could hobble the “Darling Harbour of the south west”.

“This is the most exciting project in south west Sydney forever. It’s been 10 long years … we need the Premier to step in,” he said.

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