The Old Farm at Mardi on the western side of the M1 has been approved for residential development by the Land and Environment Court (LEC).
In a decision handed down on May 30, the LEC approved the proposal to subdivide the 223ha to create 182 residential lots at 414 Old Maitland Rd, Mardi.
The work will be done in five stages with about 56ha used for residential development; about 140ha to be reserved and managed under a Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement and another 12ha identified for native vegetation regeneration under a Biodiversity Management Plan.
The site has a frontage to Old Maitland Rd of about 1.14km.
The land has been used for agricultural purposes, with evidence of land clearing from the 1940s and some native bushland.
Developer Stevens Holdings lodged a development application with Central Coast Council in July 2021 seeking consent for subdivision of 246 lots.
This was refused by the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel in February 2022.
The Council summarised for the LEC some of the issues listed by the people who submitted comment on the proposal when it went on public exhibition.
These included issues such as flooding, traffic, adverse impacts on flora and fauna, and the fact the residential expansion was west of the freeway.
The LEC hearing started with an onsite view at which the Court, in the company of legal representatives, the landowner and experts, heard an oral submission from a representative of the Central Coast Community Better Planning Group.
The attendees were then shown around five locations on the site.
The Court granted leave to Stevens to amend the development application on a number of occasions prior to and during the hearing.
The work will include construction of roads internal to the site and a new primary intersection with Old Maitland Rd about 200m north of Collies Lane and a secondary emergency service access south of McPherson Rd.
Servicing will involve the construction of a new wastewater pump station.
Fill of up to 4.69m to meet the 1% AEP (annual exceedence probability) flood level and a 500mm freeboard (with an allowance for climate change), will mean 256,629m3 of material will be imported to the site.
The judgement noted the agreement of the experts that the engineering design had sought to minimise the volume of imported fill to achieve the flood planning requirements and drainage grades.
The Commissioner was satisfied that adequate flood planning had been demonstrated.
The amended plan includes an evacuation centre on the site for flood refuge as the area is flood affected.
The centre must be permanently equipped with at least four toilets and four showers (with at least one disabled bathroom/shower facility), a battery powered generator, defibrillator, first aid kit and bottled water.
The building must include a permanent legible metal plaque near the front door to explain that it is a flood evacuation centre.
A positive covenant is to be applied to the building such that its purpose as a flood evacuation centre is managed in perpetuity.
The LEC Commissioner ruled in January that the parties should come back to him in February with the conditions of consent that were in dispute.
The Court then ruled on nine issues which were in dispute and approved the amended plans.
Merilyn Vale
When are you gunna understand the roads can’t handle the traffic now. Hang on its all about money for developers.
Is Council going to give any thoughts on how they are going to keep the Entrance channel open permanently to lesson the flooding on residents in the low lining areas
FYI – https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2025/06/council-praised-for-early-action-during-rain-events/
would you buy a block of land in a flood area – I certainly wouldn’t! consider what people have been through lately – you’d need your head read but then you might like shovelling must be out of your house!
I hate it when words are changed! that should of course be “mud out of your house”
luxury houses ..
built on 4.9m of fill in a floodplain ..
with an on site emergency evacuation centre
whatever could go wrong ?
isn’t this simply foolish ?
More immigrants to move into the coast, for Australia to become the next foreign state.
A disgraceful decision by the LEC to override the longstanding planning principle that there will be no urban sprawl west of the M1. This development will exacerbate traffic congestion, threaten local wildlife, worsen the impact of flooding, and is the first step towards destroying valuable agricultural land in the Central Coast hinterland. This decision must be urgently reviewed.
Who in gods name thought it would be a good idea to to put 200 plus houses on a flood plain?! Of all the moronic things the planning dept. have approved, this has to be the most insane. But we all know, money talks and bullshit walks
the area can not cope with traffic and parking at Westfield’s will become a nightmare to all residents in the area of the so called estate the coast is always on water restrictions so please tell the community in Wyong have to suffer further floods in tuggerah Lakes instead of fixing problems there plus all roads are put together with pot hole repairs then they want more land rates what for when council does nothing roads that are fixed get monster pot holes time council stop wasting rate payers money on crap materials to build roads the round about cut up road to put a price of shit in centre then put plants in then so you can’t see what is coming that what we call brainach no brains just another shit choice stuff road uses w e can’t see thru bush in the middle of road about are also stuffing your tyres up to wearing them incorrect the price of new tyres every twelve months a joke and let’s start about SUV and four wheel drive vehicles people that can drive then idiots that can’t drive them these vehicles should have special licence to drive just like bike and truck licences why are they not made to do a licence to drive the government just doest care about what vehicles are causing all the main accidents on roads
I cannot understand why an area that is in a low depression of ground is passed for residential housing when it is obviously true due to our present weather changes that this area will be flood prone from now on for decades and those people that are thinking of buying and living in that area will be making a very big mistake for as long as they are there and the money they invested in there home will end to nothing when they are to sell that property as nobody will pay for someone else’s mistake. Think about this it is going to happen.