Denis Winston Dr park ‘our botanic gardens’: residents
DOONSIDE residents put their case forward to save a park containing critically endangered woodland from being bulldozed for 30 new houses at an inspection of the site on Tuesday.
Blacktown
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A PROPOSAL to cut down a pocket of critically endangered woodland for 30 new houses in Doonside has been labelled “environmental vandalism” by residents.
Opponents put their cases to Land and Environment Court acting commissioner Paul Adam today to save the park on Denis Winston Dr, which has been at the centre of a three-year planning battle.
Mr Adam inspected the site alongside representatives from Blacktown Council and the developer Statewide Planning after hearing residents and activists argue for its reprieve.
Phil Wilson who has lived across the road from the park for 20 years, said locals saw the land as “our botanic gardens, our national park”.
“This has been our backyard and our lungs for many years,” he said.
Wayne Olling from Blacktown and District Environment Group said the land not only held rare Cumberland Plain woodland and native wildlife — he said it should be heritage listed.
“Only in recent years have historians identified that we are standing on what captain Arthur Phillip ascended on the 26th of April, 1788 on his first exploration to the interior,” he said.
“This is actually Bellevue Hill. The early historians got it wrong, they thought it was Prospect Hill.”
Residents have also floated the idea of the land being bought via a $200 million fund set up by Western Sydney Airport to be used as a biodiversity offset for the project.
The council and developer have been at an impasse for several years, but are trying to negotiate an agreement via conciliation in the Land and Environment Court.
The saga began when the State Government sold the 3ha site previously owned by the NSW Education Department to Statewide Planning for more than $4 million in 2015.
The council then rejected the developer’s plans and tried to rezone the 80 per cent of the site as conservation land in 2016 — a move overruled by the Planning Department.
Martin Ashton from Denis Winston Action Group said the proposal was “unacceptable” and “unsustainable” for the area.
“To approve the cutting of so many native trees … is an act of environmental vandalism,” he said.
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Lyn Buzianczuk, a local for 50 years, told the group that she had seen the endangered Powerful Owl there. She said the park was a breeding ground for several native bird species.
Councillors Kathy Collins, Kevin Gillies and Chris Quilkey attended the meeting to show “support” for residents.
Mr Adam said the proposal was a “complex” issue and it would likely take weeks of “extensive further discussion” before a resolution is found.