Are you a Northern Beaches Bushland Guardian?
Together we can protect over 225 hectares of local bushland
Northern Beaches Bushland is under threat from development
The Northern Beaches is home to precious bushland, habitat for iconic native animals, and the green lungs of Sydney. However the NSW Minister for Planning has approved a Development Delivery Plan for 227.3 ha of bush land located at Lizard Rock (Morgan Road), Aquatic Drive, Forest Way, Corymbia Circuit, Paxton St, and Ralston Ave. The sites are spread across the suburbs of Belrose, Davidson, Frenchs Forest, Oxford Falls and Allambie Heights.
How is this land under threat?
As a result of the Minister's decision, these sites are now included in the NSW State Environmental Planning Policy (Planning Systems) 2021 ("SEPP"). The next stage would be for the land to then be rezoned for residential, industrial, and other use, allowing for development applications to be made to clear the land and build greenfields housing developments.
By adding these sites to the SEPP, this means that planning will be taken out of the hands of the Northern Beaches Council and instead will be undertaken by the NSW Government. Developer Applications will by-pass the usual planning pathways via the Northern Beaches Council and instead will be submitted directly to the North District Planning Panel for review and approval. The "first cab off the rank" is the planning proposal for Lizard Rock or "Patyegarang".
What would this mean for the Environment?
These sites contain habitat for native flora and fauna, including iconic species like wallabies, and other endangered species. They also contain Aboriginal culturally significant sites and waterways that flow to Narrabeen Lagoon catchment.
- Loss of habitat for iconic species of flora and fauna such as swamp wallabies
- Impacts on the Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment as stormwater from the development will flow down hill, with less bushland to filter the water before it enters the estuary. This will impact on threatened species including the red-crowned toadlet and spotted-tail quoll in the bushland, and on marine animals that live in the lagoon.
- Loss of Sydney's Green lungs as trees are renown for their ability to improve air quality, help to cool urban areas, and draw down carbon from the atmosphere into the ground. With the threat of climate change, every tree plays an important role in drawing down carbon.
What would this mean for the Community?
This land is unsuitable for significant development, due to its biodiversity, topography, and other serious issues. This includes:
- Some of the sites are at significant risk of bushfire events. This would mean we are building houses in places we know that people may not be safe in the future.
- We will create problems with urban sprawl, as more houses are built away from urban centres, and so the residents will be reliant on cars, rather than being within a short walk or bus ride to places. This will contribute to traffic in these areas.
- The proposed housing is happening in isolation to the broader strategic planning being done by Northern Beaches Council to meet housing needs and plan for issues such as traffic and services in a holistic way across the entire Northern Beaches.
What are the alternatives?
The land is owned by the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. We respect that the Land Council wants to better the financial situation of its members, and share its concern that it owns land which it currently does not derive income from. However we respectfully disagree that the current plans represent a good outcome for the environment or broader community.
We're calling for the NSW Government to work with the owners of the land, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, to find an alternative means of realising a fair and timely income from their landholdings, while retaining the bushland at those locations. This could take the form, for example, of:
- leasing or purchasing the land as a new National Park, which would create new places for activities like bushwalking,
- assisting to create a new eco-tourism business at the land, so that an income could be derived from tourism and education at the site,
- compensating MLALC for the loss of development potential,
- a land swap for a developable site elsewhere that has no conservation value.
There are Aboriginal people living on the Northern Beaches who are not members of the Land Council, and we support their being included in such discussions.
Will you become a Northern Beaches Bushland Guardian?
We can't protect this by ourselves. It's why we're looking for other Northern Beaches Bushland Guardians.
Envirolink is building a campaign of people just like you, who care about protecting our local bush and land. Together we can build political support from across all sides of politics to protect our local nature.
We're currently running a campaign for residents to write to the Ministers responsible for the Lizard Rock proposal.
We will also be holding events to inspire and inform the community, so sign up to become a Northern Beaches Bushland Guardian.
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You're now a Northern Beaches Bushland Guardian!