Lizard Rock, Belrose: Council ‘doubling down’ on its opposition to 450-home subdivision on Aboriginal-owned bushland
A Sydney council is doubling down on its opposition to a controversial 450-home subdivision proposal on Aboriginal-owned bushland. See the latest warning.
Manly
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Northern Beaches Council is set to double down on its opposition to a controversial 450-home subdivision on Aboriginal-owned “precious” bushland at Belrose.
The council is again calling for the move to be scrapped despite a revised planning proposal by the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council (MLALC) in its bid to have the land rezoned for housing.
At its meeting last week the council voted to lodge a submission with the NSW Planning Department, calling on it to reject the proposed development because of the “extreme risk” from bushfires on the 71ha site.
It also fears the project, now officially called Patyegarang — in honour of an Aboriginal woman thought to have been the first original inhabitant to teach an Aboriginal language to early Sydney colonists — will have a devastating effect on the environment.
The new council submission will come 12 months after its original submission to the Sydney North Planning Panel and 10 months after it voted to write to then NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Opposition Leader Chris Minns to back its decision to oppose the development.
The revised planning proposal is now back before NSW authorities who have put it out for public submissions. They close on November 7.
The MLALC wants to generate hundreds of millions of dollars from the redevelopment, along Morgan Rd, to help support programs for Aboriginal people, including providing social housing.
It said the proposal would protect a number of ancient Aboriginal sites within its boundaries, with 19.8ha of the development kept as conservation areas.
Supporters say it could include an Aboriginal cultural community centre. An original bid to include seniors’ housing has been dropped.
MLALC chief executive, Nathan Moran, said recently that it had been working on the proposal for what he described as the “Morgan Road lands”, for two decades.
“There has been a lot of misinformation about our proposal for the Morgan Road lands, which do not adjoin a national park and (is) next to sewer services, electricity and other services,” Mr Moran said.
“This land was previously farmland, agricultural land and housed an extraction quarry at some stage.”
But mayor Sue Heins said the council was deeply concerned about the environmental impacts and bushfire risks associated with the development.
“We wholeheartedly support the intent of the Aboriginal land rights Act — after all, this land always was and always will be Aboriginal land — but we simply cannot condone this particular proposal due to the extreme risks and impacts it presents,” Cr Heins said.
“The new homes would be built on precious bushland and residents would face extreme bushfire risk. These new homes would also be surplus to (the council’s) housing targets.
Cr Heins said the council was urging the Planning Minister Paul Scully “to listen to the concerns from our community”.
“This is not NIMBYism, this is about protecting our precious environment and protecting lives.”
The council will also pointed out that no upgrades to Morgan Road were proposed, to assist bush fire evacuations.
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