The Hills Shire Council expresses concern over infrastructure plans in proposed South Dural development

THE Hills Shire Council has growing concerns over the South Dural housing development, slamming its infrastructure plans as “lacking”.

South Dural development artists impression.

• Plans to rezone Dural woodlands and preserve the environment will be decided by Hornsby Council
• Housing development in South Dural opposed by community group but developers want to talk it out

THE Hills Shire Council has growing concerns over the South Dural housing development, slamming its infrastructure plans as “lacking”.

The proposed development comprises of 240ha land bounded by Old Northern, New Line and Hastings roads in Dural.

The council report said: “South Dural is a logical extension of the urban area and conceptually no objection is raised to planning for reasonable urban development in this locality.

“However, the infrastructure package lacks the necessary detail to appropriately support the intended development.”

The proposal outlines 2900 dwellings housing about 6000 residents but the council’s group manager for strategic planning Michael Edgar believed it could be more with up to 20,000 apartments available to be developed at the site.

Councillor Alan Haselden said the area currently had poor infrastructure, a lack of open spaces and could put pressure on schools, libraries and parks in the Hills area.

“That’s the demographic challenges in this city,” he said.

“Under the proposed zoning, we can see an awful lot more dwellings could be built — up to 20,000 apartments.

“The very least we can do is to sit down with Hornsby Council.”

Councillor Jeff Lowe believed it would add to the area’s traffic woes.

“Hastings, Old Northern and New Line roads can’t cope now,” he said. “Have you been there at 6, 7 or 8am? It doesn’t make any difference because it’s chockers. (This development) will cause more stress on our local roads.”

New Line Rd was also a concern for councillor Robyn Preston.

“If I travel along New Line Rd, the one thing I know is I can hear the bellbirds,” she said. “That stretch is going to be apartments in the South Dural precinct. It’s a tsunami (of development).

“Where are the children going to play? That area needs 17ha of open space and it’s only allocated 4.5ha for that purpose.

“I’m not a massive ‘greenie’ but I’d like to see this development controlled and measured.

“I’m not convinced this is the best outcome for us as neighbours of South Dural.”

The developers, Lyon Group Australia and Folkestone Ltd, have offered $125 million for infrastructure and $73 million for non-government funded state road infrastructure.

The Hills Shire Council agreed to make a submission on the South Dural precinct proposal and to discuss the matter with Hornsby Council.

Hornsby Mayor Steve Russell said he was open to discussions with The Hills Shire Council.

“I’ve always advocated for a closer relationship with The Hills,” he said. “At this stage (the South Dural development proposal) is off with independent consultants to see if it’s got any merit so it is too early to comment.

“But we can see the need for more housing and it is in a logical spot. It’s a beautiful bushland setting.”