Ingleside redevelopment: Council calls for 980 new homes’ plan to be dumped amid bushfire fears
Northern Beaches Council wants a plan for 980 new homes — and 3000 more residents — should be scrapped. And it has suggested an alternative suburb for more development.
Manly
Don't miss out on the headlines from Manly. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Northern Beaches Council is urging the NSW Government to dump plans for close to 1000 new homes — and about 3000 more people — at Ingleside.
Fears that residents of the redevelopment on the edge of a national park could not evacuate quickly enough in a bushfire, prompted a council vote on Tuesday calling on the Planning Department to scrap its Ingleside Place Strategy in its current form.
One councillor, Liberal Rory Amon, described the plan as an “unmitigated disaster” waiting to happen.
Other community critics, including the Residents Against Inappropriate Development group, had warned that the precinct, on 180ha south of Mona Vale Rd and north of Powderworks Rd, would put lives at risk because of a lack of road escape routes in a bushfire.
In its submission to the Planning department the council also had concerns about flooding and potential impacts on the area’s biodiversity as well as the lack of traffic and transport planning and the significant cost to ratepayers to provide basic infrastructure.
The strategy, released by Planning Minister Rob Stokes in May, included homes on larger lots, between 1500 sqm and 2-hectares. About 40 per cent of the dwellings would be low rise townhouses and apartments,
It also includes a shopping centre, parks, sports fields and public open space, It does not include a new school.
The plans for what Mr Stokes described as a “modest new village nestled in a bushland escarpment”, are a cut down version of a redevelopment proposal that was released in 2016 which made room for 3400 homes.
That proposal was scrapped in 2018 after serious concerns were raised by the NSW Rural Fire Service about the risks associated with bushfires sweeping into the area. There were fears that residents would not be able to evacuate quickly enough during a major bushfire and the suburb would be severely affected by ember attack.
At Tuesday night’s council meeting Cr Amon backed the council’s stance against the state government.
“As I look at this (Ingleside plan) and I look at the fire risks, what I see is an unmitigated disaster waiting to happen,” he said.
“We’re inviting residents into an area where we are putting them in a matchbox and waiting for nature to light the match.”
Cr Amon, who is a volunteer with the Rural Fire Service, said existing residents “who will need to escape these fires when they come” would also be put at risk
“They haven’t come since 1994 and they will come. And when they do come they will be a disaster and it they’ll be horrific.”
“And the more people we pack in, the worse it will be.”
Jackie Jarvis, of Elanora Heights, who set up Residents Against Inappropriate Development (RAID), said Powderworks Rd was the one route out of the area and the extra 2-3000 cars the development would bring would clog up the escape route for thousands of people in the north of the peninsula, including those living in Terrey Hills and Duffys Forest.
Mayor Michael Regan suggested at the meeting that the homes planned for Ingleside could “redistributed” to other proposed redevelopment centres such as Brookvale where infrastructure such as public transport already exists.
Mr Regan also supported the council’s proposal to write to the Minister and ask that he transfer any government land, at no cost, to the council if the Ingleside plans did not go ahead. The land could be used for sporting fields, for example, he said.
In a statement Mr Regan said the council questioned the plan given the scale had been greatly reduced due to the inherent bushfire risk.
“The bushfire reports clearly rules out development north of Mona Vale Road – we have to put safety first.
“Our submission also contends that the full impact of the bushfire evacuation needs to have greater regard for the impact of the existing bushland adjacent to Powderworks Road and other evacuation routes and more traffic modelling is required.”
A Planning Department spokesman said ensuring safety from bushfire and protecting significant biodiversity are at the heart of the renewed vision for Ingleside.
America’s Cup women gearing up for new fight after shock loss
Shocked Australian sailors hugged and cried when bundled out of the women’s America’s Cup. A quick reset and they were gearing up for a new fight - and another crack at winning the event
Surf star’s special Coolangatta Gold moment ahead of 40th anniversary
She was once dubbed the fittest woman in Australia but there’s no going back to the race that made her famous for surf star Hayley Bateup - not even for a special anniversary.