Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Saturday, I met with Ilia Gill, Barbara Ferrero, Terry Walker, West Ward Councillor Mike Thomas and many concerned local Kellyville residents from the Wrights Road Reserve Action Group over the failure of our local council to develop the Wrights Road Reserve for the benefit of residents of Castle Hill and Kellyville. Wrights Road Reserve is a longstanding issue and highlights one of the failures of Baulkham Hills Shire Council. It also highlights failures of the state government in planning policy. Planning issues and infrastructure shortages are amongst the more important issues facing my electorate of Mitchell and the urban fringes of Sydney. In fact, planning represents perhaps the single biggest challenge for the future of the urban growth areas of metropolitan cities across Australia, leading to issues around housing affordability for young families and the availability of open spaces.

The area surrounding the reserve was first opened up to new housing development in 2001. In August 2005, Baulkham Hills Shire Council sent all residents within West Ward a letter detailing the draft master plan for the Wrights Road Reserve and community centre. The plan included sporting, community and recreational facilities designed on approximately three hectares of land bordering Wrights Road, Green Road and Harrington Avenue. The reserve’s development is designated under the council’s section 94 works contribution program. Therefore, developers’ contributions have already been collected for the purpose of building this much needed community facility. On 19 August 2005, Baulkham Hills Shire Council’s manager for human services confirmed that ‘funds have been set aside to undertake major sportsground and community centre construction works in Wrights Road Reserve’. The project was supposed to commence in early 2006 and become operational during the summer of 2006 and 2007. To this day, not one sod of dirt has been turned to develop this reserve. On 6 November 2007, Baulkham Hills Shire Council’s landscape projects officer advised:

Currently, no funds have been identified in the 2007/08 Capital Works Program for work to commence on Wrights Road Reserve.

The officer also advised that ‘due to a deficiency in the section 94 contribution plan’ the council has not provided any timeline for or update on the future development of this reserve other than allocating a deadline of 2010. On behalf of the Wrights Road Reserve Action Group and other concerned residents, I would like to ask the council and the mayor exactly where the funds that were set aside for the development of this wonderful community facility have gone. If the funds were set aside back in 2005, where else were they spent and for what reason? Why have the residents of Castle Hill, Kellyville and Beaumont Hills been ignored? Why do these residents miss out on a much needed community facility while others within Baulkham Hills Shire Council do not? Castle Hill, Kellyville and Beaumont Hills are some of the fastest growing areas of my electorate and Sydney. This really needs to be seen to be believed. They have built thousands of houses right next door to each other, with scant regard for open space and lifestyle. Thousands of families have moved in. Yet in the middle of all this housing and growth there is a huge amount of land, which was supposed to be their park, covered in waste material and fenced off so that the public cannot access it. I commend this community group on their wonderful action in fighting for this important community facility for families in my electorate. (Time expired)