People who bought land at Lendlease’s Figree Hill and have been in limbo for months can now finally start building their family homes.
Transport for NSW has today given the green light to major Appin Road upgrades to be paid by Lendlease and which will include underpasses and koala fencing to protect the local colony.
The project’s $170 million package of works will improve the safety and quality of this vital piece of road infrastructure, a key arterial connecting outer South Western Sydney with the Illawarra region.
Lendlease is delivering this project as part of a Voluntary Planning Agreement with the Department of Planning and Environment as part of their conditions of approval for the Figtree Hill development.
The green light from Transport for NSW also means construction can now start on more than 450 homes at Figtree Hill.
As part of the first phase of upgrade works, Appin Road will be widened between Noorumba Reserve and Gilead from two lanes to a four-lane dual carriage way, and a new intersection from Appin Road into the Figtree Hill development constructed.
Koala fencing will be installed on both sides of Appin Road, between Noorumba Reserve and Beulah, to prevent koalas from crossing through traffic.
Two fauna underpasses, designed as box culverts, will be constructed under Appin Road at Glen Lorne/Noorumba Reserve and Beulah/Browns Bush.
The Glen Lorne underpass will be delivered under the widened four-lane road.
The Browns Bush underpass will be constructed under the existing two-lane road, acting as an interim safety measure while approvals progress for a permanent underpass at Beulah, to be delivered as part of a second package of road upgrades.
The final design of the underpasses has been determined by Transport for NSW and is based on best practice and comparable underpasses used by koalas elsewhere in NSW.
Brendan O’Brien, head of NSW Communities at Lendlease welcomed the go ahead from Transport for NSW.
“The community has been calling for koala underpasses and safety upgrades to Appin Road for years, and today’s announcement gives us the green light to finally deliver urgently needed road upgrades and infrastructure to improve safety for motorists and koalas,’’ he said.
“Our investment into upgrading this vital infrastructure for the local community will also help new homebuyers get started on building their new home at Figtree Hill, which is meeting pent-up demand for housing in this area.”
Upgrade work will start this year and take approximately 18 months to complete.
“Community feedback has been critical in ensuring that the needs of the Appin community are met by this upgrade,” said local state MP Greg Warren.
“The proposed measures to improve koala safety are fantastic moves towards preserving our very special species.
“This upgrade will be a part of a number of projects designed to improve the safety of everyone who utilises Appin Road,” Mr Warren said.
Determining an underpass design that koalas are likely to use, combined with a fencing strategy to stop koalas crossing Appin Road, has been a complex undertaking, according to a Transport for NSW spokesperson.
“It has taken time to get this right, but there is confidence these designs will significantly reduce koala vehicle strikes at this location and improve the function of this important koala habitat corridor,’’ the spokesperson said.
I hope the council or government are not making any contribution to the cost of this project as the developers have made huge fortunes out of land development in Campbelltown over 40 years and I am not aware of of any contribution back to our community other than the minimum required by law
Say goodbye to the beautiful mature trees that line the road on both sides. They will all go.
Although Wildlife Overbridges would have the best results for Koalas and local Wildife the culvert underbridges hopefully will be large enough to take all sizes of Wildlife from Wallaroos to insects and seeds.
Fencing will stop Wildlife from crossing as long as it is good quality , designed for the purpose and regularly checked and maintained. Fire and flood trapping wildlife is still a risk with underbridges.
Koalas and their friends still need local established trees, local vegetation, wildlife corridors( to and above the NSW Chief Scientists requirements )and wildlife reserves for this to save our Koala and other threatened species.
The NSW Environment Department and Federal Government should be carefully monitoring what is going on in Gilead, Appin and Wilton . They should be ready to step in against any development which risks Koalas.
Part two of Lendlease’s development should not go ahead if we really want to save the Koala population.