Couple’s Leppington dream home swallowed by road and concrete

The glossy home advertisement showed big trees, ample parking and generous grass verges. What they got was a highway just 4m their front door, no room for trees and a cheap fence.

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They thought they were buying homes with big trees, ample parking and generous grassed verges. What they eventually got was no trees, no grass and four lanes of traffic just 4m from their front door.

Now scared and furious homeowners want answers from the developer, while council and planning experts have described it as “a stuff-up” and “grossly inadequate”.

Retirees Peter and Sue Coles bought a two-storey home in Stockland’s Willowdale development at Leppington in October 2018 for $805,000.

Denham Court Rd, Leppington in 2019.

Denham Court Rd in 2020. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

They were told the vendor, builder Edgewater Homes, wanted a quick sale.

Looking for a secure property close to their autistic grandson and his family, the couple liked the ample parking, natural outlook and that the home was 2m above and 15m away from the one-lane-each-way Denham Court Rd.

Advertisements for the home showed a large, newly-grassed verge and mature trees.

Nothing showed up on the property’s conveyancing report indicating an arterial road was about to be built or that 100 trees were about to be cut down.

Sue and Peter Coles outside their Leppington, where a developer has cut their front yard space down dramatically. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

In February 2019 developer Stockland sent out a letter saying they were looking to expand Denham Court Rd from two to four lanes.

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The letter didn’t contain any specific details on exactly where that road would be.

By June 2020 the mature trees had been cut down, the large strip of green space torn up, the road had been raised 2m and their fence replaced with a cheap metal structure.

“It’s completely changed the ambience of the place and it’s quite scary that trucks go rushing by so close,” Mr Coles, 67, said.

“In 2019 Stockland didn’t go into any great detail about what the road would look like, saying it hadn’t been finalised.”

Construction on Denham Court Rd at Leppington. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

As the opposite side of the road is undeveloped, the Coles naturally thought that would be where the road expanded.

“Then works started outside our place around May and we lost our height from the road and now it comes within a few metres of our front door,” he said.

The new footpath is about 2m wide with no verge and no option for a tree to be planted.

Neighbour Robert Jackson, 74, said the new street lights beam into his bedroom at night, birdlife has disappeared and dust pervades all parts of his home.

“We’ve had to pump out air conditioner and clothes dryers because we can’t go outside and the street noise is so much louder,” he said.

“We knew that the road was going to be done but we didn’t expect it to be so close.”

The original advertisement for what would be Peter and Sue Coles’ home.

Urban planning expert Michael Comninos said tree planting is like any other infrastructure item — it must be there.

“The design there is grossly inadequate; it’s a stuff up and it should be fixed,” the Astrolabe Group director and UNSW City Futures adviser said.

“Trees are critical to managing heat and creating liveable spaces.

“The state government has programs where they offer free trees to plant but what’s the point if you’ve got nowhere to put them.”

Michael Comninos is the director of planning consultancy Astrolabe Group.

NSW opposition planning spokesman Adam Searle. Picture: Damian Shaw

Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils CEO Charles Casuscelli asked: “What happens when a young mother with a pram or the elderly want to walk along that street in the middle of summer without any tree canopy cover?”

“In Western Sydney we are creating places which are difficult for humans to inhabit,” he said.

Opposition planning spokesman Adam Searle said Western Sydney residents “should not be treated as second class citizens by developers”.

“Planning controls must be put in place to ensure this kind of thing does not continue to occur,” Mr Searle said.

A development application for the Denham Court Rd upgrade was lodged with Campbelltown Council in November 2016 and approved in November 2018.

Campbelltown Council director city development Jim Baldwin said council is “not aware of any complaints in regards to the movement of the road’s location”.

Denham Court Rd at Leppington. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

A Stockland spokeswoman said the company “engaged with residents directly and ensured ongoing communication at each stage of the project”.

“All registered plans for the lots on Denham Court Rd, Passiflora Ave and Plumegrass Ave highlights road widening from the existing road at the time to the boundary of the lots,” she said.

“In response to resident feedback, we worked closely with council to ensure the height of the fence was increased beyond the original stipulated height of 1.2m to 1.6m, to provide additional privacy for residents.”

The spokeswoman said the company added a community consultation evening to discuss the upgrade and the activation of a 1800 information line, notices were placed in the local newspaper and on the Stockland Willowdale website and information was also distributed via an electronic newsletter and a letter box communication to all residents.

Planning Minister Rob Stokes said last year “too often our new suburbs in these release areas follow a pattern of development that results in a row of identical single-storey houses with black roofs, no tree canopy cover and a reliance on cars”.

He declined to comment for this story.

Originally published as Couple’s Leppington dream home swallowed by road and concrete