CATHERINE Hill Bay residents have threatened to use green bans to stop Sydney developer Rose Group swamping their heritage town with 600 houses.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Planning Minister Frank Sartor approved yesterday the Rose Group's plan, which involves developing 58 hectares of land at Catherine Hill Bay and 187 dwellings at nearby Gwandalan.
It came six years after Rose Group bought the sites, which included large areas of former mining land that many hoped would be conserved.
Under the deal, the Rose Group will hand over 305 hectares of land on the Wallarah Peninsula for a national park.
"These lands will help realise the vision of a permanent green corridor between the Central Coast and Lower Hunter," Mr Sartor said.
Catherine Hill Bay Progress Association secretary Sue Whyte said residents would continue to fight the development and were prepared to face arrest by participating in green bans, which would involve blockades and industrial action to stop construction to protect the environment.
"We're fighting on; we're certainly not going to take this as the end of the road," Ms Whyte said.
"We'll be discussing with the unions about putting on green bans."
Ms Whyte said Mr Sartor had "run roughshod over the planning process".
"We're back to the '60s, back to the bad old days when you need green bans to get things protected from the Government," she said.
"This is what we're now forced to do because we can't rely on the Government to abide by their own laws and policies, like not developing areas with no infrastructure and not building on headlands."
Mr Sartor said the project was worth $390 million and would create 2340 construction jobs.
It includes the 187 houses at Gwandalan, reduced from Rose Group's original plan for 312 dwellings.
Mr Sartor said the developer would pay $2.9 million towards regional infrastructure such as health, emergency services, public transport and education and $1 million to upgrade Catherine Hill Bay Surf Life Saving Club.
Greens MP Sylvia Hale said Electoral Funding Authority figures revealed Rose Group, since it began planning the development, had paid about $219,000 to the NSW Labor Party.
"Approving Rose Group's development at Catherine Hill Bay is the latest in a series of highly questionable decisions by this minister," Ms Hale said.
Rose Group managing director Bryan Rose said it would take him a few days to fully assess the approval.
"Rose Group has always had the best interests of the environment and the local community in mind and they will remain our top priorities," Mr Rose said.
