This Sydney backwater transformed into an industrial zone. But Ted has been left behind

When Ted Pochodyla first moved onto his 10-hectare property in Kemps Creek 36 years ago, it was an idyllic rural hamlet of small farms surrounded by pristine bushland.

But a series of significant planning changes to land near the new airport in Sydney’s sprawling south-west have turned his patch of paradise into a nightmare.

Left behind: Ted Pochodyla outside his property in Kemps Creek on Sydney’s south-west fringe.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Pochodyla lives in what’s known as the “Mamre Road Precinct”, a massive industrial rezoning of 850 hectares 15 kilometres from the Badgerys Creek airport.

It has turned the once-sleepy area into the home of a multi-billion dollar logistics hub expected to create about 17,000 jobs.

Far from wishing for a return to the old days, however, Pochodyla’s problem is that he can’t get out.

While zoning changes have prompted a rush on land in the precinct, with 17 of his former neighbours selling for a combined total of more than $500 million since 2019, a decision to class his property as environmentally valuable has left him stranded.

“They’ve built this world-class industrial precinct and left one old guy living here,” he said.

“My neighbours are gone, all the houses are gone, I used to know everyone up and down the street.”

In 2022, the former Perrottet government released the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan, a planning strategy meant to guide development across four key growth areas across western Sydney, including the Aerotropolis. The controversial document allowed for the construction of 73,000 homes while clearing 1754 hectares of native vegetation.

It also designated some areas as “avoided land”, part of a series of environmental corridors meant to protect native habitat. Pochodyla’s property, which an environmental assessment found contains about 4.3 hectares of “thinned” Cumberland woodlands, is in one of those areas.

Ted Pochodyla’s Kemps Creek property, with industrial development in the background.Credit: Wolter Peeters

But while his property was originally part of a larger wildlife corridor, bigger landowners have been able to develop by purchasing environmental offsets. This means Pochodyla is at the end of what has become a wildlife cul-de-sac surrounded by massive industrial estates.

“I can’t see how it’s good for the environment to have one property surrounded by this massive new industrial park.”

Pochodyla’s only option to escape is via a voluntary acquisition by the NSW government. While nearby properties have sold for more than $50 million, the biodiversity zoning means he has been offered a tiny fraction of what it would otherwise have been worth.

He owns the property with his brother and his sole income is from tenants in the main home while he lives in a granny flat.

“They’ve built this world-class industrial precinct and left one old guy living here.”

Kemps Creek resident Ted Pochodyla

“I’m retired, I have no income apart from the tenants, if I sold it for what the government is offering I wouldn’t have enough to buy a decent home.”

Professor Roberta Ryan, a community commissioner for the Aerotropolis precinct, has been seeking to assist Pochodyla. While she did not want to comment specifically on his case, she said he was not alone in being affected by “unintended consequences” from the Cumberland plan.

“It is challenging for smaller landowners when larger landowners can purchase offsets and clear the land around them. It has the consequence of leaving some of them isolated, and it is difficult to see how environment outcomes can be delivered in those cases,” she said.

Pochodyla wants the environmental zoning overturned, but the government has not yet agreed. It is reviewing some elements of the Cumberland Plains plan but has yet to release the details.

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully acknowledged the situation had “understandably caused considerable distress to Ted”.

“The government is very conscious that some smaller landowners feel they are disadvantaged by the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan. Our priority is to balance interests for the entire area and to protect threatened flora for future generations,” he said.

But the aim of the plan was to “balance the protection of critically endangered woodlands in Sydney with alternate land use options”.

“Cumberland Woodland is designated as a critically endangered ecological community. Currently, less than 6 per cent of Cumberland Woodlands remain in small parts distributed across the western suburbs of Sydney, totalling only around 6400 hectares,” he said.

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