‘Slum of the future’: New development slammed

Locals are furious at plans to build a new suburb containing 3500 homes in their picturesque city, saying it will plunge them into chaos.

Badagarang in north Nowra. Picture: Shoalhaven Council

Locals have reacted with a mix of concern and outrage upon learning that a brand new suburb has been created in their picturesque NSW city, which they say is already bursting at the seams.

The Shoalhaven City Council announced the official naming of Badagarang in north Nowra earlier this week, noting it will soon be home to thousands of people.

Mayor Amanda Findley said the new suburb would help ease stress on the NSW South Coast housing market.

“It’s a beautiful location that will provide 3500 new homes to the region and help to reduce the pressure on the current housing market,” Cr. Findley said.

The 425-hectare suburb will run along both sides of Moss Vale Road between Bomaderry and Cambewarra Village across the two existing rural locations of Cambewarra and Meroo Meadow.

The new suburb was formally gazetted on February 24, and the name represents a traditional totem of the Dharawal people, the Eastern Grey Kangaroo.

“This name honours the cultural heritage of our First Nations People in a similar way as Bomaderry and Cambewarra in the neighbouring suburbs,” Cr. Findley said.

However, many were not so thrilled about the news, fearing that bringing more people to the area will amplify the issues locals are already dealing with such as traffic congestion and a lack of infrastructure including hospitals.

Badagarang in north Nowra. Picture: Shoalhaven Council

During school holidays, these problems are amplified due to the town’s popularity as a tourist gateway for sites such as Jervis Bay, Ulladulla and Batemans Bay.

Some are even warning the new suburb could become a “slum of the future” if planning developers fail to build infrastructure to accommodate the new residents.

The area can get very busy. A new bridge has just been built but it was only to replace the old bridge. Picture: Transport for NSW

Locals are also left wondering what will happen with the proposed Nowra bypass, which has been talked about by the Federal Government for years, with it assigning an extra $65 million to the planning project in January. It appears to run through the new suburb.

The proposed route (in blue) of the Western Nowra Bypass. Picture: The Shoalhaven Local Environmental Plan

Commenters were appalled to learn about the new suburb, writing on the Shoalhaven City Council’s Facebook page; “3500 new homes, without any infrastructure?”, “we need another hospital not another housing estate” and “another slum in the making”.

While another said: “Seems council allows these developments without first building the infrastructure to support this many additional people to the area! Also please tell me where the promised (Nowra) bypass will run!”

Tourists flock through Nowra to get to areas such as Jervis Bay, creating a traffic nightmare for residents, so they want better roads to deal with the influx. Picture: iStock

Furthermore, a local wondered: “And how is the Shoalhaven planning on accommodating the necessary demands to service another 7-10,000 residents? Where are the schools, day care, medical centres, specialist medical professionals, high schools, roads, parking, shopping???

“The region is absolutely jam packed already, with lengthy wait times for medical appointments and overloaded schools … And with blocks as small as 270sqs it’s going to be a social pressure cooker in no time at all. Just breaks my heart to see this happening.”

BOMADERRY TO NOWRA: Southbound holiday traffic is heavy on the Princes Hwy. Allow about 20 minutes extra travel time in the area. pic.twitter.com/S3gvGg9DyS

— Live Traffic NSW (@LiveTrafficNSW) December 27, 2022

@AlboMP glad you will exp traffic through Nowra today. #nowrabypass

— Kathy Now (@kathy_now) February 24, 2023

The gridlocked traffic on the southern side of Nowra bridge is unbearable. Won’t return for quite some time

— Ryan Burns (@RyanBurns78) February 26, 2023

Another agreed: “Infrastructure for new developments is always an afterthought. Sadly the south coast in general is being over developed and will be no different to Sydney outer suburbs.

“What used to be farmland is now a sea of houses as far as the eye can see. The primary school they built was over capacity before it even opened, traffic is a nightmare, it takes twice as long to get anywhere.

“Everyone is living on top of each other with the small blocks, the houses are so close together you can virtually touch your neighbour’s house by putting your arm out the window (and I’m not joking), people cannot even get the garbage bin down the side of the house.

“Sadly I think these estates will be the slums of the future.”

Locals weren't happy about the news. Picture: Facebook

Nurses protested outside the Shoalhaven District Hospital in Nowra as staff throughout the state walk off the job during Covid times. Picture: Nathan Schmidt

An eagle-eyed resident noticed changes in another area and feared it’s what was to come for them too: “You just have to look at what’s happened at Albion Park since they put a similar size development in without any additional infrastructure … Total and utter chaos all the time.”

While a soon-to-be former local was glad to be leaving: “This area is now getting too big and over populated and no infrastructure to cater for all the influx of people. Glad we are moving out.”

An initial map of the suburb, the shape of it has since changed slightly. Picture: Supplied