Time to put spotlight on overdevelopment of residential streets

Most of us are thinking about the impact of urban sprawl as the population of both big towns in Macarthur explodes.

Campbelltown is expanding south to Appin and Menangle, while Camden is approving greenfield developments west and north west towards the Western Sydney International airport.

The Wollondilly Shire is also growing in leaps and bounds, mostly in Wilton and Appin.

So there will be congestion on our roads, more people to compete with for local jobs, those kinds of impacts.

And we’re right to be concerned to make sure governments provide enabling infrastructure, from roads to schools and public transport.

But maybe the time has come to start thinking about overdevelopment in our existing residential streets, because there’s a lot going on in this area.

A perfect example is the story we published recently on a small cul-de-sac street near the Campbelltown centre, Ruzak Street, pictured above.

There’s just 10 houses there, and for 30 years the residents enjoyed the amenity of a quiet life only a street like that could provide.

And I am certain the residents of Ruzak Street, just like those of any other street in the whole region of Macarthur, never in their wildest dreams thought that anything would change for the next 30 years.

But before they knew it, Ruzak Street has completely changed in the past couple of years, and definitely not for the better.

Now they share their little street with a group home with 10 people living in it, each with their own bins and so on, and just two car parking spaces on the site.

A second group home is being built right next to it, which would also mean another 10 people living in that little street soon.

Also, an existing home has been knocked down and replaced with two town houses.

And now there’s a second double town house under construction between the second group home and the first town house knock down-rebuild.

You would think that would be it, but a proposal for a child care centre with more than 100 places has also been approved earlier this year.

It’s worth noting that all of the above were approved by council simply because they are allowed under the prevailing zoning for that part of Campbelltown.

As a former mayor of Campbelltown told me, council “has to approve’ otherwise it goes to court and it loses.’’

Putting that to one side, what happened in Ruzak Street, and no doubt many other previously quiet residential havens, is classic overdevelopment.

That means we need to start putting some rules around it in the appropriate planning process, because there should be a limit to how much you can change the essential character of a residential street.