It is not often I agree with one of our State Ministers, and I will try not to make a habit of it.
However, I must agree with Police Minister Mr David Elliott in his being opposed to the massive re-development proposed in the Baulkham Hills area.
It seems only a Minister complaining to his Ministerial colleague can get his voice heard.
He wants the local infrastructure upgraded before massive over-development is built.
I reckon Woy Woy is facing much the same problem.
In the mid-1980s, I worked in an office on the corner of Old Northern and Windsor Rds, Baulkham Hills – all gone now.
I was even secretary of the local Chamber of Commerce.
It was a very pleasant township with the birds singing and bush everywhere and the Bull and Bush Hotel just across road, a great place to work and play.
While our Central Coast Council spends inordinate sums on airy-fairy plans for the future with thousands of new residents and dwellings, there are no plans to expand existing schools, roads, shopping centres, car parks or public transport to accommodate this enormous influx.
Sorry, a car park 800m from the railway station with a shuttle bus? What a joke!
It strikes me that our local bureaucrats have swallowed a buzzword generator.
I have never read so many big highfalutin words jammed into such a small space as the innumerable number of plans proposed for our Peninsula – most of which, when combined into a phrase mean absolutely nothing.
They sound great until you read between the lines.
Their intention is to get as much money as possible out of our leafy village at the expense of a ghetto.
The average block of land on the Peninsula is between 9m and 12m wide and, to build multi-storey monstrosities, they will have to be at the very edge of the block to allow the maximum number of flats to be built on each block.
The new owners might like to join your neighbour’s singalong when you are in your respective showers.
And what of the hundreds of new owner’s cars that will be parking/ blocking our streets?
Of course there are building codes that apply, but those are quickly swept under the table when developers want taller and taller and bigger and bigger buildings meaning bigger and bigger profits and more rates revenue.
Check out the recently approved monolith next to Church of England church in Blackwall Rd.
It’s an absolute disgrace.
What we need is someone to stand up to this invasion and say NO.
One of our councillors would be a start.
Perhaps he could organise a public meeting where he could find out what we really want and go back to Council with the views of his electorate to back him up, instead of hiding his head in the sand.
Any takers?
Email, 23 Jun 2020
Laurie Powell, Woy Woy