Resist pressure to develop land west of motorway

Forum –

I write in sorrow and anger that, once again, I need to expose a quietly resumed development application for the Old Farm acres at 414 Old Maitland Rd, Mardi (DA 765/2021).

This beautiful green bit of open bushland has been the subject of development applications from 2016, if not earlier.

Now it is on again and the bulldozers are poised to start work.

A very short notification without publicity was due to expire on September 24 however I requested an extension of time for submissions.

Our Council of “political hopefuls” and “representatives”, who are fine upstanding folk I am sure, are to examine the DA and presumably pass it on to something called the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel which will give it the tick or not.

I ask where is the new updated public exhibition of this DA that has undergone many changes to land use description and building site numbers and sizes over the years?

The Central Coast Regional Strategy 2006-2031 (NSW Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor) published in 2006, describes the NSW Government Plan for the controlled development of the Coast.

In his forward the Minister explicitly determines that “the strategy will limit expansion of the urban footprint by protecting land west of the F3 (now M1) Freeway from further residential development…” and (page7) “the western half land supports agricultural production and contains water supply catchments which must be protected from urban and residential uses…”

These words concisely describe the very important overall view of the land use west of the M1.

In other words “retain the green spaces for the future population to enjoy”.

After all, the bushland and tourism is what the Coast has been shouting about for some time now.

Let’s keep it that way.

We don’t need religious group study students or motor sports in the hills.

We don’t need a major airport.

We do need to keep what we have now for future generations and that includes the essential Mardi Dam.

Email, Sep 23
David Hollingsworth, Mardi