Weekly Mayor's Message - Clr Dr Michelle Byrne - 14 December 2015

Published on 14 December 2015

I’m quite used to Council being blamed for just about everything that goes wrong in The Hills, even if it’s not as a result of our decision-making or care.

Common examples include Showground Road, Old Windsor Road, the M2, schools, property prices and immigration to name a few.

Successive councils lobbied successive state governments for the North West Rail Link. When we heard we were going to receive the Rail Link, we knew that the cost would be increased development around station sites.

While we accepted there would always be apartments around the future railway sites, what the NSW Department of Planning have proposed for the Showground is unacceptable as far as I’m concerned.

Council was blindsided on a number of issues. We thought the Showground would accommodate roughly 3500 dwellings – but the controls exhibited allow for more than 10,000 dwellings.

This is above and beyond what the infrastructure around the Showground can cope with and you can be assured that I’ll be seeking to urgently discuss this with the NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes as soon as possible.