Developer lobby group criticises Wollondilly Council
A DEVELOPER lobby group has slammed Wollondilly Council for its attempts to block development in Wilton South East through the Land and Environment Court.
Macarthur
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A DEVELOPER lobby group has slammed Wollondilly Council for its attempts to block development in Wilton South East through the Land and Environment Court.
Wollondilly Council lodged an appeal against the rezoning of the Wilton South East Precinct last month, concerned advice from the Office of Environment and Heritage had been ignored and infrastructure and transport issues were still unresolved.
Urban Taskforce Australia CEO Chris Johnson has accused the council and Mayor Judy Hannan of playing politics to appeal to anti-development sentiment in the community.
“In a pre-election environment we are seeing the NSW Government putting planning for urban infill on hold and now it seems that greenfield housing is also being put on hold.” Mr Johnson said.
“Wollondilly Council, led by a mayor who media reports say may stand as a candidate in the state election next March, is taking the NSW Government to court to try and stop the rezoning of the Wilton South East precinct.
“The NSW election is becoming a race to the bottom as politicians champion anti-development and anti-housing rhetoric to appease communities worried about change.
“The big losers will be young families and young couples looking for a new home.”
Mr Johnson refuted the council’s claim that not enough had been done to protect the koala population and infrastructure plans were not yet in place.
“The reason the council is calling for the rezoning of land in the Wilton South East precinct to be stopped seems to be based on the need for a koala protection corridor but the Department of Planning has already identified a significant area of land as a koala corridor,” Mr Johnson said.
“Wollondilly Council is also concerned about the provision of infrastructure for the new development but large projects need to begin the construction of new homes in parallel with infrastructure delivery.”
Wollondilly Mayor Judy Hannan said council had been consistent in its calls for transport infrastructure at Wilton for many years.
“We’re not against development and we’re not against the Wilton development,” she said.
“It’s not about stopping anything it’s about making sure the process is done correctly. All those young families need to be able to access public transport.
“We have 13,000 signatures on our petition to save the koalas so the community is behind us.
“There is more and more evidence (for the appeal) everyday.”
Cr Hannan said she only decided to run for the state seat after the Liberal Party preselected Nathaniel Smith as its candidate to replace retiring incumbent Jai Rowell.
“Council has had it’s postion on the Wilton development long before I had any intention of running,” she said.
“If the Liberal Party change their mind and give us a candidate who is a local and not from the middle of Sydney then I will withdraw.”
In July, the Macarthur Chronicle reported that documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws showed the OEH had recommended part of the Wilton South East precinct not be rezoned due to the impact it would have on a primary koala corridor.
The land was included as part of the Planning Department’s rezoning announcement earlier this year.
The same documents also show OEH staff had recommended no land be rezoned until the biodiversity certification process was completed. No biodiversity certification has yet been completed for Wilton.