Outer Sydney Orbital: North west rural towns fear proposed corridor

ENTIRE communities — rural properties, new housing estates, and tens of thousands of acres of bushland — in north west Sydney could be under threat under the proposed M9 Outer Sydney Orbital corridor. Here are the areas at risk.

Rebecca Baldwin and Matthew Marshall with Myles, 5, and Max, 6, on their property in Maraylya. The fear it is in the path of the M9. Picture: AAP Image/Angelo Velardo

ENTIRE communities in sleepy bushland suburbs of the Hills and Hornsby are locked in limbo, after the State Government announced draft corridor plans for the M9 Outer Sydney Orbital.

If plans for the eight-lane motorway from Menangle to Box Hill are approved, hundreds of homes in Sydney’s north west — including Marsden Park, Riverstone, Vineyard, Box Hill and Maraylya — would be acquired and knocked down.

Home owners in suburbs from Annangrove to Dural, Cherrybrook and even Hornsby have raised concerns after community consultation on the corridor investigation suggested the route could cut through the Dural Nature Reserve and Berowra Valley National Park.

But Castle Hill MP Ray Williams reassured residents this suggestion would not become a reality.

“The NSW Government has not proposed any corridors of the Outer Orbital within the Hills area,” Mr Williams said.

The Outer Sydney Orbital also proposes the motorway should also provide a connection to the Central Coast — yet fails to identify property and land sites expected to be bulldozed.

Hills Shire councillor Robyn Preston labelled the proposed link “a road to nowhere” and called on the government to pinpoint the exact route of the corridor.

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“Council will not support any plans for the Outer Sydney Orbital in the Hills Shire until plans are complete,” Cr Preston said.

“Residents are up in arms, they are distressed about the future and are convinced their homes are in the firing line.”

Cr Preston said their were positive aspects of the orbital plans, including its proximity to the Box Hill stage two residential development.

Hills Shire councillor Robyn Preston said the government needed to be clear where the road was going.

Hawkesbury Mayor Mary Lyons-Buckett said the government needed to abandon its plans. Picture: Hawkesbury Council

Hawkesbury Mayor Mary Lyons-Buckett wrote to the premier last week to raise concerns the council’s position had not been considered.

Last month councillors voted unanimously to call on the government to abandon its current plans.

“The corridor proposal announcements have evoked emotional responses and caused distress and uncertainty within our community,” Cr Lyons-Buckett said.

A Transport for NSW spokesman said the department was “currently reviewing the community feedback.”

Outer Sydney Orbital

RESIDENTS FEAR RURAL LIFESTYLE WILL BE LOST

MARAYLYA resident Matthew Marshall said his hometown would be “cut in two” if the M9 orbital continued with a link to the Central Coast.

“We deliberately made the decision to live in a rural area and it looks like that opportunity will be taken away from us if this corridor goes ahead,” he said.

Mr Marshall said people were unsure whether to still build in the area. Picture: AAP Image/Angelo Velardo

Mr Marshall and his young family have lived in the rural suburb since 2000 and built their “forever home” just four years ago.

“Right now our future looks very uncertain,” he said. “Our home could be acquired for the orbital, or we could be neighbours to an eight-lane freeway.”

IN OTHER NEWS

Mr Marshall said property owners were uncertain whether to continue to build homes in the area.

“Transport for NSW are telling us they have not determined the route, which currently ends at Maraylya, to the Central Coast,” he said.

“They did not give us enough time to address concerns and respond.”

ACTION GROUPS RALLY TO PROTECT BUSHLAND

A submission to the Outer Sydney Orbital corridor investigation suggested running the eight-lane freeway through Dural and Cherrybrook. (AAP Image / Julian Andrews).

RESIDENT action groups are calling for greater protections to local bushland, as possible corridors for the Outer Sydney Orbital have suggested cutting through rural suburbs across the Hornsby Shire.

Community consultation from the corridor investigation suggested the corridor could link from Box Hill to Hornsby through the Dural nature reserve and Berowra Valley National Park.

But Resident Infrastructure Planning Alliance spokeswoman Jacqui Goddard said local tree canopies and wildlife corridors should be defended.

Portraits of local residents standing on the corner of New Line Rd and Hastings Rd in Dural on 12th June 2018, where a proposal has been submitted under community consultation for the Outer Sydney Corridor Pictured (L-R) are: Ray Sloss, Beverley Inshaw, John Inshaw, and Jacqui Goddard. (AAP Image / Julian Andrews).

“The route under discussion cuts right through rural properties at South Dural,” Mrs Goddard said. “Personally I am very happy that we can provide habitat for kangaroos and our many other native birds, animals and insects.

“Following a watercourse would also be highly hazardous to Aboriginal Heritage and cultural landscapes.”

Mrs Goddard questioned the NSW Government’s releasing of information in the lead up to an election and scolded Transport for NSW over a lack of public comment.

“But I can see it being attractive to developers, with areas currently not an option opened up, or recently closed to them such as South Dural,” she said.

“There are no easy answers to the provision of transport infrastructure, but destroying our natural environment certainly isn’t one of them.”