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- 26 June 2003
St Ives Overdevelopment
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Page: 2332
Mr HUMPHERSON (Davidson) [5.33 p.m.]: The residents of St Ives and the wider Ku-ring-gai area are concerned about overdevelopment in the St Ives area. On Saturday I attended a meeting organised by the St Ives Residents Action Group. The meeting was well attended, with some 200 people present. Not surprisingly, there was substantial discussion and strong resolve about overdevelopment and inappropriate development in St Ives and more broadly throughout Ku-ring-gai. The meeting passed a resolution which I undertook to bring to the attention of the House. It states:
That this meeting of residents of St Ives and other areas of Ku-ring-gai condemns the Carr Government for continuing to inflict its SEPP5 and SEPP53 policies upon our community. We object most vehemently that the Government has deliberately allowed developers to irreparably destroy our streetscapes and natural environment, thereby depriving us of appropriate amenity and adequate infrastructure. We demand that the Premier and the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure immediately revoke the Government's SEPP5 and SEPP53 policies. Furthermore, we demand that planning powers be returned to our democratically elected Council.
The motion was moved by Lloyd Capps and seconded by David Williams, and it was passed without dissent. It reflected the views of not only the people at the meeting on Saturday but also the wider Ku-ring-gai community. Ongoing concern about the nature of development remains. The Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, who was also the Minister responsible from 1995 to 1999, needs to be much more sympathetic. Ku-ring-gai Council is prepared to adopt a residential strategy that incorporates more and greater diversity of medium-density development in Ku-ring-gai in appropriate locations.
There is strong opposition to the continued ad hoc nature of development that is facilitated through State environmental planning policy [SEPP] 5 and SEPP 53 [SEPP 53]. The removal of Burwood and Wyong councils during the recent election campaign means that Ku-ring-gai is now the only council in this State to which SEPP 53 applies, and there are numerous SEPP 53 applications for the Ku-ring-gai area. The time to repeal SEPP 53 as a State planning policy has well and truly passed. I endorse what I have said previously in the House: SEPP 53 is a ham-fisted approach to facilitating the provision of medium-density housing in this day and age.
SEPP 5 developments continue not only to be a blight on Ku-ring-gai but some of these developments are so out of keeping with the desires and needs of people that many of them in the St Ives are difficult to sell. That is, the new developments are not being purchased. One development involves a number of dwellings and there is only one occupant after the units have now been on the market for a number of months. I ask the Minister whether he is prepared to meet with representatives of resident groups in Ku-ring-gai to discuss the need for better outcomes in amenity and character in St Ives and areas beyond.
I take this opportunity to register a concern I have as a State member of Parliament in the area. The local government elections in the next six to nine months will determine the complexion and attitude that the new Ku-ring-gai Council will take over the ensuing four years. Given the council's history, and given my familiarity with local government as a former councillor, I strongly believe that it is important to have genuinely independently minded people elected to council. I am concerned that what I term a community-based but factionalist approach to local government over the past four years may become entrenched. With the interest that the political party known as Save Our Suburbs has shown in Ku-ring-gai in recent months, I am concerned that Save Our Suburbs may evolve and that some councillors may seek re-election to council under the Save Our Suburbs banner. I am greatly concerned about the Save Our Suburbs motives, agenda and outcomes, and its interest in Ku-ring-gai local government. [Time expired.]
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