WestConnex land at Homebush not for sale — for now

The NSW Government has assured it has no current plans to sell excess land it acquired for WestConnex construction at Homebush.

The land is between Underwood Rd and Ismay Ave in Homebush.

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The NSW Government has assured it has no current plans to sell excess land it acquired for WestConnex construction at Homebush.

Strathfield Council had been told the 6000sq m parcel of land between Underwood Rd and Ismay Ave would be returned to the market.

WestConnex minister Stuart Ayres told the Courier: “This land will now be reviewed under our new public spaces policy and the newly announced Minister for Public Spaces after the election and therefore is not being considered for sale.”

Todd Hillsley with his daughters Veronica and Victoria want to see the land returned for community use. Picture: Monique Harmer

“The residual land use plan for WestConnex will also take into consideration both the planning conditions for the project and the public spaces policy and therefore won’t be finalised until later in 2019.”

Strathfield state Labor MP Jodi McKay said Mr Ayres’ comments left the door open for the land to be sold off for development in the future.

“He’s saying the decision will be referred to the new minister and for me that’s code for: ‘We’re still going to sell it but we’ll wait until we get past the election’,” she said.

NSW Labor has promised to hand back all the land no longer needed for WestConnex to the community.

Residual land from the WestConnex project on Underwood Rd.

The 18ha of land that will become available is bigger than Hyde Park.

“The land along that entire corridor would be for community use so it could be a sports facility, parks, a community centre or whatever the council deems appropriate,” Ms McKay said.

This would help make up for the anxiety and disruption the road project had inflicted in residents, she said.

Liberal candidate for Strathfield Philip Madirazza said he had received confirmation from the party’s headquarters the land “won’t be considered for sale”.

Underwood Rd resident Todd Hillsley said he would like to see the land used for a community hall and parkland.

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“Our community has suffered with ongoing noise all night for 3.5 years, disruption to parking, footpath damage, tree removal and dust from construction,” he said.

“Basically the whole streetscape is now ugly and it used to be a beautiful street.

“I would like to see the land returned as parkland with child swings.

There was also a scout hall on Ismay Ave which was knocked down so it would be nice to see a community hall built again.”

“The least they can do is give the land back as promised because if they had told the community that the land would be sold back to developers there would have been much more uproar about WestConnex.

“It would be good for them to show more transparency and for them to keep their promises

“People aren’t proud of their suburbs anymore because of this project.”