State Govt green light to plan for 13,000 homes in Appin caned

Appin Road is a death trap and the area is prone to bush fires, yet the state governments wants to dump 13,000 new homes right in the middle of it all.

Wollondilly Mayor, Matt Gould, who has criticised the Department of Planning and Environment (DPI) decision to approve the rezoning of land in Appin, says there is no clear plan for the provision of basic infrastructure

He is calling on the planning minister to ensure the department delivers on promises of a binding infrastructure plan for the site before the proposal is progressed further and that it does not come at the expense of providing critical infrastructure in Wilton.

In a move that side-stepped Wollondilly Council, the decision to rezone the Appin (Part) Precinct Appin site will allow up to 12,900 homes to be built before the area is able to support the massive population increase.

“The new State Government has been making some positive changes when it comes to housing such as having more development take place away from the fringes and put it in areas that already have the required infrastructure,’’ says Matt Gould.

“However, this cannot come at the expense of providing infrastructure investment in existing state mandated Growth Areas such as Appin and Wilton.

“We understand there is a housing crisis and are we are willing to do our fair share to address that, but in turn we need the NSW Government to play their part.

“They must come to the table by committing to a binding plan that links the delivery of homes to the delivery of the infrastructure needed to properly support those homes.

“This rezoning in Appin means the Department is dumping almost 13,000 homes in an area already starved of critical infrastructure such as water and sewer, and right now there is no meaningful plan for public transport, health services, schools or employment.

“Right now, Appin Road [pictured] remains a death trap, the linkage between Appin and the Wilton growth area is a single lane bridge built in the 1800’s, there is no public transport, and the area is highly bushfire prone with a long history of significant fire impacts that need to be properly addressed.

“All we are asking for is surety that we will have access to the same basic infrastructure that would be provided to anywhere in Metropolitan Sydney.

“In our existing growth area in Wilton we have hundreds of houses that are going in that will need to have their effluent trucked out for several years because something as basic as a fit for purpose sewage system isn’t in place after a decade of planning, and various state agencies are still at least two to three years behind where they need to be.

“We need to make sure we don’t repeat these mistakes at Appin.

“With delayed commencement for rezoning until 15 December 2023, let’s use this next six months to get the agencies to agree to a solid plan for infrastructure that fully addresses these issues.

“We want to make sure that it does not come at the expense of critical infrastructure that is sorely lacking at our existing growth area at Wilton, where houses are being built now.

“Council has been clear throughout the entire process that we see the development at Appin as a longer-term prospect and it should not be developed before Wilton, in order to ensure that sufficient infrastructure is in place to ensure Wilton can function as a strategic centre for the Shire.”

Council received notice late last week that DPI had rezoned the Appin (Part) Precinct site, within the Appin Precinct of the Greater Macarthur Growth Area.

The rezoning will take effect from 15 December 2023 and according to the notification provides:

• Approximately 470 hectares of Conservation land (34 percent of the site)

• 12,900 new homes

• At least 108 hectares of public open space.

However, there is a lot of work to be undertaken including:

• Precinct Structure Plan

• Development Control Plan

• State Planning Agreements for infrastructure

• A local Development Contribution Plan