When it comes to the Scenic Hills, unless you show outrage and anger when someone mentions development, you fail the test.
What test is this: Well, it’s the test of how genuine your opposition is to any development of them hills on the western border of Campbelltown.
Come to a council meeting – any council meeting – and inevitably the issue will come up, as it did on Tuesday night.
Before the people we elected to be our councillors for four years were two proposals related to the hills.
One was to convert Macarthur Grange golf course to housing lots – between 500 and 600 – and the other a proposed rezoning of land along St Andrews Road, also for housing.
“The Scenic Hills are what makes us different,’’ declared the veteran Labor councillor Meg Oates.
The debate went on in much the same vein as Oates’s comment and it was obvious both applications would be booted out.
But not before a lot of councillors got on their soapboxes to declare their determination to protect and preserve the Scenic Hills.
I have got to be careful here because I don’t want anyone to accuse me of supporting development of the Scenic Hills.
I don’t – unless it’s to turn them into parklands.
So treading very carefully, I wish to point out that some of these councillors are being a little precious, if not forgetful – when it comes to our Scenic Hills.
How can I say that? Easy. Just drive the entire length of the Scenic Hills and you will see what I mean.
Discover for yourself that the Scenic Hills are no longer the pristine bushland they once were and that some people would want you to believe.
And the reason: well, past councils approved one or two developments, such as Macquarie Links estate, which yes, sure it contains a golf course, but also a lot of very nice housing, no doubt.
About 20 years ago, after knocking back a cemetery and crematorium application, the council instead approved a golf course at Macarthur Grange.
A subsequent attempt to add housing on the ridge of the property was knocked back, because council had by then learned its lesson.
Did we mention St Gregory’s College, where the word on the street is that there are plans for substantive new development of their land, situated right at the very top of the Scenic Hills as viewed from Blaxland Road.
Scenic Hills riding ranch, as the 500 acre holding was known for many years, was also allowed to build and operate a large function centre near its front gate at old Campbelltown Road.
Even the suburb of Kearns was allowed to creep up the side of the eastern side of the Scenic Hills along Raby Road. Did I mention the Campbelltown campus of the University of Western Sydney is on the Hills?
Almost 100 years ago our council would have approved the building of a new school right at the start of the Scenic Hills at Glenfield called Hurlstone Agricultural High School.
There are other examples but you get the picture; the Scenic Hills ain’t what the Scenic Hills used to be.
What’s left of the Scenic Hills is relatively substantial, to be fair, but councillors should sit down and develop a coherent plan. They should even bring in the owners and other tiers of government.
It’s important so much energy by our elected representatives is not used up on just one issue, no matter how passionately they feel about it.
There are a lot of other important challenges in Campbelltown, such as reviving Queen Street, which don’t get much of a mention at council.
What was mentioned in passing the other night, turning the Scenic Hills, or what’s left of them, into an extension of the Western Sydney Parklands, is an idea worth exploring.
If we could get State and Federal Government to dip in their pockets and buy all of the land available and turn it into parkland, now there’s something to get precious about next time the subject comes up.
And then we have the rezoning of Macquarie Fields House…
Don’t throw us all in the same boat Eric. I know that the vast majority of people in Campbelltown care more about getting a local job so they don’t have to spend 2-3 hours travelling a day than a few elevated areas of dirt.
Sure, they’re pretty, but so are the kids you don’t get to see because council keeps knocking back height limit increases in CBD, preventing the density increases that would encourage businesses to relocate.
What I don’t get is why they’re so against the cemetery. What a great way to protect the Scenic Hills from development. You can’t build houses on top of dead people, their families tend to get annoyed. And you’d have to have bloody good eyesight to pick out tombstones. It’s not like we’re going to be burying the Pharaohs there.