When Campbelltown Council meets for the final time tonight, infrastructure and heritage issues will be in focus.
It will be interesting to see if there is support for Councillor Ben Moroney (Greens) who will move the following detailed motion:
“Council notes the Greater Macarthur 2040 interim plan for the Greater Macarthur Growth Area and the media release by Planning Minister Anthony Roberts;
“Council notes the serious deficits in the interim plan for the provision of necessary infrastructure and protection of unique local wildlife and biodiversity;
“Council calls on the state government to hand back planning powers for the Greater Macarthur Growth Area to Campbelltown and Wollondilly Councils to jointly determine the future of their local area according to the following principles:
“protect all high value conservation land and maintain the existing east west wildlife corridors;
“defer all future residential rezoning in the corridor until the current diesel rail line from Macarthur to Douglas Park is electrified and integrated into the Sydney Trains network;
“ensure the special infrastructure contribution (SIC) provided by developers covers 100 percent, not 60 percent, of the infrastructure costs associated with development;
“focus more intense development in the immediate surrounds of local centres based around upgraded rail infrastructure;
“ensure that the Appin Road upgrade delivers multiple wildlife over and underpasses to maintain vital east west connections for the local koala and other native animal populations.
“Council calls on the next State Government to commit to transport upgrades for Campbelltown and the Macarthur region in accordance with the identified needs in Council’s submission to the Western Sydney Rail Needs Scoping Study Discussion Paper, and electrification and upgrade of the existing rail corridor by 2021.
“Council calls on the State government to provide access to:
“the Office of Environment and Heritage to assist with the mapping and protection of the environmental values in the Greater Macarthur Precinct;
“Roads and Maritime Services to assist council with road infrastructure planning and constructions and special infrastructure contribution costings;
“NSW Health for planning for the health needs of the growing population;
“NSW Department of Education for planning for student accommodation and resourcing for the growing population.’’
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In contrast to Cr Moroney’s mammoth motion, supporting plans to heritage list the old St James Anglican Church in Kent Street, Minto should be a breeze for the councillors.
A total of nine submissions were received during the exhibition of the draft planning proposal and raised issues such as the cost of restoration works, safety and feasibility of heritage listing and the change of council’s historical approach to heritage listing, says a report to council.
Considering heritage listing is the conclusion to an issue that started with plans to demolish the old church, that’s a big tick for Campbellown Council, which also recently purchased two heritage listed buildings in Queen Street.
The report says old St James Anglican Church is one of the “last remnant buildings from the original Minto Village’’.
It represents, says the report, “a continuing presence of the Anglican community in the locale for over a century and provides a historical and cultural link to the local area’’.
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Also on the agenda tonight is a generous tribute to council’s departing director of city growth and economy Jeff Lawrence.
The tribute, which will be read by the mayor, George Brticevic, says Jeff Lawrence has been “a trusted member of the council senior leadership team for more than 14 years – firstly in the role of director of planning and environment and for the past two years, city growth and economy.
Mr Lawrence tendered his resignation in September and will be on long service leave from December 14 until his official retirement in August of 2019.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Jeff has had a long and distinguished career in local government, spanning almost 40 years across several regional and metropolitan councils,’’ says the mayoral minute tribute.[/social_quote]
“He has been instrumental in the development of a number of high level strategies including the Western Sydney City Deal, the Glenfield to Macarthur Corridor Strategy, Re-imagining Campbelltown CBD phase one, as well as having significant influence on the content of the Western City District Plan including recognition of Campbelltown as part of the Metropolitan Cluster of centres for the Western City.’’
