By Megan Gorrey
An Aboriginal land council’s contentious proposal to rezone bushland for 450 new homes on Sydney’s northern beaches has been criticised as a firetrap, a possible legal minefield and a disaster waiting to happen by protesting residents during an impassioned public meeting.
The Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council has sought to develop the 71-hectare site off Morgan Road, locally known as Lizard Rock, in Belrose since 2006. The plan, dubbed the Patyegarang proposal, was lodged in 2022 amid strong opposition from Northern Beaches Council and residents groups concerned about bushfire risk, threats to native species and infrastructure strain.
Residents are continuing to oppose the development of bushland at Belrose.Credit: Wolter Peeters
More than 150 people watched a Sydney North Planning Panel meeting about the plan on Monday.
One resident, Lauren Kajewski, said the proposal did not recognise the compounding risks of climate change, including extreme heat, bushfires and coastal storms.
“The climate-related physical compounding risks are too extreme and insurmountable regardless of any redesign or restructuring of the proposal,” she said. “As these risks are forseeable, the proponent would not only be at risk of future class actions, it would also unreasonably expose people and properties to insurance risk, mortgage risk, and risk to life.”
NSW Aboriginal Land Council chief executive Heidi Hardy said the Aboriginal Land Rights Act represented a “significant milestone” in the “long journey towards justice and recognition” for Aboriginal people, and it acknowledged their rights to reclaim their land.
“The intention of this act is insufficient if it is not accompanied by the ability to activate and meaningfully use the land … Its true strength lies in activation of land and the empowerment of Aboriginal communities.”
Sonia Powell, whose home backs onto nearby bushland, said the bushfire risk was “undeniable”.
“While we need many more homes on the northern beaches, this site is unsafe, poorly serviced and unsuitable for a project of this scale.
“Adding hundreds of homes into this area would create a firetrap with limited access for evacuation and emergency service.”
Environmental scientist Edwina Laginestra said the proposal was “a disaster waiting to happen for future residents, our community and the already overworked emergency responders”.
“I urge the land council and the local and state governments to explore safer, more sustainable alternatives, like a land swap or a better-located site with the necessary infrastructure.”
Morgan Foster Morris told the meeting that her young family was renting in Forestville while they searched for a house to buy in Belrose. She cried as she labelled the proposal a “disgusting, shameful and lazy effort to provide crap housing to the future generation who, frankly, don’t want it”.
“We are presumably the target market for this development, and we think it is a gross and plunderous misuse of our limited natural bushland spaces.”
The panel is assessing the project. The Planning Department will later make a recommendation to Planning Minister Paul Scully to make a decision.
Scully said that given he was the potential consent authority on the proposal, he would allow the panel to complete its independent assessment and await their referral.
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