Save The Bay Campaign
Catherine Hill Bay is facing massive development threats from 2 large developers, Rosecorp and Coal & Allied (a subsidiary of Rio Tinto). This website presents the campaign against these developments.

· State Heritage Listing for Catherine Hill Bay - 28th July 2010
· Federal Government approves Coal & Allied development - 29th March 2010
· Death of Democracy Rally - 27th September 2009
· Court Decision on Development - 1st September 2009
· ALP donor projects scuttled !! Court delivers crushing judgement - 31st August 2009
· Read the Land And Environment Court Judgement - 31st August 2009




· Latest News - Rose Group
· Latest News - Coal & Allied
· National Trust disappointed at Minister Garrett's decision - 28th February 2009
· Independent Panel Pans Rose Concept Plan
· How Sartor ignored his Department's advice against development - Read the FOI documents
· Read the Progress Association submission on the C&A development proposals
· Artists impression of the Rose Group development footprint
· Artists impression of the Coal & Allied development footprint
· Media - Media Kit, TV, Radio, Newpaper coverage
· Other Information

 

Latest News - Rose Group
Court Decision on Development - 1st September 2009 Attached ... It was not until we were able to read the judgment that we saw just how damning of the previous Minister for Planning Frank Sartor, was the judge's decision.
Land and Environment Court overturns Rose Group development - 31st August 2009

Click here to read Land & Environment Court judgement that overturns approval for the Rose Group development.

A new chapter in the fight to save Catherine Hill Bay - 12th June 2009

The part 3A approval by the former Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, to allow Rose Group to build 600 dwellings at Catherine Hill Bay and 187 dwellings at Gwandalan is presently being challenged in the Land and Environment Court . The basis for the challenge is bias on the part of the Minister. The Gwandalan/Summerland Point Action Group is being represented by the Environmental Defenders' Office NSW and barrister Mr Jeremy Kirk.

For further information check out the EDO website: http://www.edo.org.au/edonsw/site/casework_key.php#catherine

Read the EDO NSW Bulletin . Read the chronological list of Rose Group history

See latest newspaper coverage

CHBPA response to Federal Govt concerning the presence of federally threatened flora and fauna - 21st Sept 2008 Attached is the response from the CHBPA to the referral by Rose group to the federal government concerning the presence of federally threatened flora and fauna on the area in which Rose group wishes to develop
Please email or write to Peter Garrett

The Federal Government still has to sign off on the Rose Group proposal for 600 houses.

Former Minister for Planning Frank Sartor signed the approval on the 2 nd September. The Federal Government has 30 working days before it signs off as well.

The clock is ticking!! Please email or write to Peter Garrett. Form letter attached

Sartor's approval of Rose Concept Plan - 2th September 2008 Attached ... On the 2nd September 2008 , the former Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor signed the consent document that gave approval to the Concept Plan (MP_0330). The Rose Group is allowed to build up to 600 houses at Catherine Hill Bay .
WPA update on the developments - 10th July 2008

Attached ... This is an up-date from the WPA and as we have received contradictory information in a previous meeting with the Minister and the Department CHBPA is awaiting the formal Minister's determination to confirm details. We anticipate this to be made public in the coming days and will immediately provide the community and supporters with further information at that time.

Independent Panel Pans Rose Group's Concept Plan - 8th April 2008 An independent Panel set up by the government to assess the development proposal at Catherine Hill Bay has sent it back to the drawing board, saying the project is still not “consistent” with coastal policy and sound planning principles. Read the IHAP report. Read the media release from the Catherine Hill Bay Progress Association
Earlier Rose Group News Click here to access Rose Group News Archive

 

Latest News - Coal & Allied
Federal Govt approval for C&A at Middle Camp - 29th March 2009

Coal and Allied (a subsidiary of mining giant Rio Tinto), has been given approval by the Federal Government under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation  Act to develop land at Catherine Hill Bay .

Coal and Allied are the second largest land holders in the Lower Hunter. For more than 50 years this mining company took large profits from underground mining in the area; now that their interests have shifted into open cut mining in the Upper Hunter, Coal and Allied no longer wish to keep this land. A deal has been done with the State Government to return a proportion of the land in exchange for development rights on land not zoned for residential development. Surely a case of “double dipping” by a wealthy mining company turned developer.

Whilst we applaud the giving of land to the State Government to create a continuous Green Buffer between the Wallarah National Park and the Munmorah State Conservation Area, residential development in Catherine Hill Bay will have a serious impact on a significant wetland as well as destroying endangered threatened flora and fauna as the proposed development area cuts across animal corridors.

C&A media release
Government Approval

Independent Panel Report on Coal & Allied Concept Plan - 17th July 2008

The Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel states that any development in Middle Camp should be located only on land that has been previously disturbed and that is visually separate from the existing village. There will be no development behind the houses to the west of the village (area C) or in Slack Alley (area D). Read more from the CHBPA. Click here to read the the IHAP report.

Formal Objections to the Coal & Allied proposal - 25th February 2008

Below is the formal objection sent to the Department of Planning by the Catherine Hill Bay Progress Association to the development proposed by Coal & Allied.

C&A submission main text
Attach 1 - Core position of the Association
Attach 2 - Community profile
Attach 3 - Social Infastructure and Developer Contributions
Attach 4 - Review of Ecological Bushfire Assessment (2MB)
Attach 5 - Traffic Assessment Advice
Attach 6 - Heritage Assessment Advice
Attach 7 - Heritage Assessment Advice
Attach 8 - Heritage Advice on Development Area D (2MB)
Attach 9 - Community Consultation Comments
Attach 10 - Illustrated Analysis of Proposed development impacts
Attach 11 - Chronology of Planning Protection - 1969 to present
Attach 12 - Previous undertakings to Government and Community by C&A

Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel presentations - 12th February 2008

Some of the presentations from the Progress Associaiton to the Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel

Middle Camp (29MB file)
The Threat to Middle Camp
Heritage Impact Study Objection

Earlier Coal & Allied News

Click here to access Coal & Allied News Archive

 

Join Our Campaign
Save the Bay Campaign

The Save the Bay campaign has thousands of supporters throughout Australia and overseas. They all want to Save the Bay because they know it is "a special place" unique in Australia .

They support our campaign financially and by making their protest known in objections to the NSW Government, through letter-writing campaigns and lobbying.

You can join this campaign. Click on Things you can do to help Save the Bay.

This web site will keep you updated. Click News and Events for latest news.

We will provide advice during February on this web site on how to make your protest most effective. You can join The Friends of Catherine Hill Bay and receive updates direct to your email.

 

Things you can do to Save The Bay
Things you can do
  1. Join The Friends of Catherine Hill Bay to keep informed up to the minute. Click here to download the membership form.
  2. Help financially. The Progress Association has launched a fund raising campaign for its Fighting Fund to enable it engage professional consultants to strengthen it objection. Click here to read how you can help.
  3. Donate to the Heritage Trust Fighting Fund. See attached information.
  4. Visit the Bay - and enjoy it!
  5. Catherine Hill Bay residents have initiated other lobbying efforts which are being taken up by supporters. See below.

 

Why the Development is so bad
Why the development is so bad

Catherine Hill Bay is a heritage village of about 100 mainly small miners' cottages, whose scale, character and appearance is much as it was in the 1890s and early 1900s. soon after coal mining was established.

The development proposals being considered by the State Minister for Planning, Mr Sartor, and for

  1. 600 houses and 150 tourist beds at the southern end of Catherine Hill Bay , intruding onto the headland and into the heritage village (the RoseCorp proposal)
  2. 300 houses at the northern end of the Bay, in the vicinity of Middle Camp about 1km north.

In other words the heritage village would be hemmed in between new development which would increase the place's size by 10 times.

Despite their combined impact on the community, the Government is treating these as separate projects, with about eight months between publication of the two concept plans.

You can check details of these plans, with maps by clicking here

The community's reasons for fighting and what we think is reasonable development are available in full by clicking on these headings in the side bar (left)

 

Key Issues
Key Issues in the campaign to save Catherine Hill Bay

The Government has jettisoned its own established planning policies to force intrusive, overwhelming urban development on the heritage village of Catherine Hill Bay by Coal and Allied and RoseCorp.

Updated Rosecorp plan showing 600 houses! Click here, then scroll down to the "State Significant Site and Major Project (concept plan) application for redevelopment of Catherine Hill Bay and Gwandalan" section. Hard copies are on display at Lake Macquarie and Wyong Council chambers and Department of Planning offices in Newcastle , Central Coast and head office ( 23-33 Bridge St Sydney ).

One man - the Planning Minister Mr Sartor - has the power to

  1. Push aside the advice of the Planning Department and Heritage Office.
  2. Ignore the protests of two Councils and the decision of the Land and Environment Court against the Rosecorp development plan.
  3. Harm the unique heritage value of the Bay's village and landscape -- just to keep the developers happy
  • The Bay was at the bottom of the Planning Department list of 91 possible sites in the Hunter for development, but Mr Sartor pushed it to the top - ignoring his own department's advice. (Herald article attached) (FOI documents)


  • The Government has made a mockery of due process and fair treatment of the community; setting an appalling precedent for every other coastal community.


  • Planning Minister Sartor gave an undertaking to the community to list the Bay on the State Heritage Register and has failed to do so.


  • The decision undermines the integrity of Coastal Policy and other planning policies to protect the coast from exactly the type of decision he has made.


  • Lake Macquarie Council has spent tens of thousands of dollars defending the Government's existing policies for the coast, but the Sartor decision treats the council and its ratepayers like doormats.


  • The Newcastle Herald said in an editorial on Tuesday 24th October 2006 that Mr Sartor "surely (would) not want to go down in history as the man who destroyed a precious piece of Australia 's history. A society that obliterates its past faces a soulless future." Herald article attached
  •  

    Why We Fight
    Comment

    Attached is the full article

    "...the Planning Minister and Premier's office appear to have misled the community about their intentions, indicating support for heritage protections but not delivering in the face of developer demands for development rights where none currently exist.

    Not a pretty picture and not good news for public policy, or for good government or for fair dealing with the community. "

     

    Freedom of Information documents
    Comment

    In the following documents, obtained under FOI legislation, the Department of Planning ranked 91 possible sites in the Hunter in terms of suitability for development. Catherine Hill Bay was ranked the second least desirable location for development. In approving development in the Bay, Mr Sartor has ignored his own department's advice, and pushed it to the top. (Click here to download all files - 3MB)

    (We gratefully acknowledge the Hunter Community Environment Centre as the organisation which lodged the FOI and provided this material)

    Explanation

    Department of Planning Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) for assessing potential development areas in the Hunter.
    Page1 Page2 Page3 Page4 (right click to save to disk and view in more detail)

    Tables

    Department of Planning tables for each of the 91 areas. Note that Catherine Hill Bay is area RS253, and this area came in second last.
    Table1 Table2 Table3 Table4 (right click to save to disk and view in more detail)

    Map

    Department of Planning map showing the area numbers Map (right click to save to disk and view in more detail)

     

    Campaign Releases
    Heritage Listing of Catherine Hill Bay - Department of Planning - 28th July 2010

    Attached ... The Catherine Hill Bay and Middle Camp villages in Lake Macquarie will be given the State's highest level of heritage protection, under a proposal placed on public exhibition today.

    More detail and maps are available on the DOP website under the "Explanation" heading.

    Information Newsletter - 19th October 2009 Attached ... The Association has had a consistent position since 2006 that development may be appropriate on the Moonee Colliery and former Wallarah Colliery sites. However it opposed the massive number of houses proposed by the developers at the Bay-and has been vindicated by the Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel and the Land and Environment Court . Policy Position
    The Institutional Design of the NSW planning System - John Mant - 6th October 2009 Attached ... Given the role of the lobby organisations for the development industry in pushing for the reforms, corporatism is a fair description of nature of the changes.
    Democracy has Death Rattles in NSW - John Pitt - 5th October 2009 Attached ... Labor will limp on regardless, pretending all is well in the state of NSW. The powerbrokers in Macquarie Street know democracy is dead, but will they say the last rites? Not a bit of it. Like Gordon Brown's Labour Government in the UK they will continue to mouth platitudes, make plans for jobs outside of government — nice fat earners of course — and to hell with the rest of us.
    National Trust ‘disappointed' at Garrett decision - 28th February 2009 Attached ... We are disappointed at Minister Garrett's decision given that Catherine Hill Bay had been nominated by the National Trust for the National Heritage List. Had the Listing been accepted the Minister would have had the power to reject this dreadful development.
    Unsustainable Coastal Development - National Trust December 2008 Page1 ... Page2 ...The local community, the National Trust and the environmental movement have been fighting major housing developments at idyllic Catherine Hill Bay...
    Catherine Hill Bay Progress Association receives an award for Community Involvement from the NSW Coastal Conference - 8th November 2008 Attached ... Association President, Sue Whyte, accepted the award on behalf of the Catherine Hill Bay community. Nominated by the Mayor of Lake Macquarie, Councillor Greg Piper, the award recognises the “Catho” community's exceptional level of involvement in promoting and protecting coastal communities and environments.
    Protest Rally in Hyde Park on 19th October 2008 - 10am Attached ... The NSW government has changed the laws governing planning, environmental assessment and heritage protection. The Planning Minister now has extraordinary power to override local councils, community wishes and expert opinion.

    Rally Against Inappropriate Development on Sunday, 19th October 10.00 a.m. – 2.00 p.m. , Hyde Park near St James station marching to Parliament House. Be part of state-wide action.

    Earlier Campaign Releases

    Click here to access earlier Campaign Releases

     

    Media Kit
    Introduction - 8th Feb 2007

    Download Word document
    Download PowerPoint document

    The Facts - 8th Feb 2007 Download Word document
    Download PowerPoint document
    Contacts - 8th Feb 2007

    Download Word document
    Download PowerPoint document

     

    TV Coverage
    Questions about Integrity of this State's Planning System - Channel 2 - Stateline - 18th September 2009 Attached ... John Mant says to restore public confidence in the integrity of the system, urgent reform is needed. The role of the Land and Environment Court to adjudicate on the merit of development needed to be restored.
    The Land Bribe - Channel 2 - Stateline - 11th September 2009 Attached ... We are now in a position in our planning system that we have returned to the days of Bob Askin.
    Channel 10 News - Wednesday 31st January 2007

    Download the 10MB movie file (courtesy of Channel 10)

     

    Radio Coverage
    Explain yourself Mr Sartor - Alan Jones - 2GB - 27th February 2008 Attached ... Today's story is about a property developer who donated more than $160,000 to the New South Wales ALP and has been given a $200 million windfall in a land rezoning deal, despite the Government's own expert panel warning Planning Minister Sartor against the move.
    ABC's national program Australia All Over - 6th February 2008

    Catherine Hill Bay has reached the national airwaves. Ian McNamara, from the ABC's national program Australia All Over, visited Catherine Hill Bay on 6th February 2008. He recorded conversations with a number of locals and played these over the following two Sundays. The plans by developers Rose Group and Coal&Allied  for Catherine Hill Bay he thought were “criminal” and would destroy this special place on the coast of NSW . Telephone calls came from Tasmania , Western Australia and Victoria wondering how such destruction was being allowed to take place.

    An expert panel has knocked back plans for a major redevelopment at Catherine Hill Bay - Rowan Barker - 2GB Thursday 3rd May 2007

    Attached ...An expert panel has knocked back plans for a major redevelopment at Catherine Hill Bay on the Hunter Coast.

    Locals claimed the proposal would have destroyed the area's unique features, special significance as a heritage and environmental site, and public access to the beach and lake

    2GB Ray Hadley - 13th February 2007

    Download the 5MB audio file excerpt from the show (courtesy of 2GB)

     

    Newspaper Coverage
    NSW Backflips on Catherine Hill Bay Heritage - NineMSM - 28th July 2010 Attached ... Hunter Valley villages once slated for redevelopment will be given the state's highest level of heritage protection, the NSW government says.
    Secret Deal For Crown Land - The Herald - 10th May 2010 Attached ... THE NSW Government has been accused of striking a secret deal with controversial Sydney developer Rose Group for land at Catherine Hill Bay . The deal came to light after a bizarre series of events involving two blocks of land that were part of an 1870s subdivision in the seaside suburb.
    Legal Shift Revives Disputed Housing Plans - SMH - 19th February 2010 Attached ... THE state government has embarked on a new strategy to revive controversial Hunter Valley housing developments that collapsed after the Land and Environment Court found they had been negotiated unlawfully.
    Govt. Manipulation of Lower Hunter Strategy devious say Greens - Newcastle on Hunter - 18th February 2010 Attached ... To eliminate references to the MoU and replace them with a ‘Voluntary Planning Agreement' is to simply play with words while retaining the substance of the original ‘land bribe'.

    The Huntlee and Catherine Hill Bay projects should be abandoned.

    Hunter Developments back on Drawing Board - The Herald - 18th February 2010 Attached ... Mr Kelly is expected to announce today that he has removed references to Memorandums of Understanding [MOUs], which Environment Court Justice David Lloyd had described as "land bribes".
    Small axe fells big timber - SMH - 24th October 2009 Attached ... Huntlee and Catherine Hill Bay were among those not previously given serious consideration because they were remote from existing services and poorly serviced by transport. Suddenly, they were part of the new strategy.
    Sartor's attempt at foreplay comes across as smarm - SMH - 22nd October 2009 Attached ... And it's why Sartor's look-at-me-Mummy 3A legislation is such bad law, because it encourages random rezonings like those that took Catherine Hill Bay and Huntlee from list-bottom to list-top. It's bad for the land, and bad for our rep.
    Ministers Unlawful Act Scuppers 7200 Homes - SMH - 19th October 2009 Attached .... THE state's biggest housing project has collapsed after the Planning Minister, Kristina Keneally, admitted she acted unlawfully in approving the 7200-home Hunter Valley proposal.
    Decision invalid, Hunter planning strategy in limbo - ABC - 19th October 2009 Attached ... The New South Wales Government's planning strategy for the Lower Hunter has come to an abrupt halt after Planning Minister Kristina Keneally agreed that her approval of a housing development for 20,000 people near Branxton was invalid.
    Developing a Distaste for NIMBY Protestors - Daily Telegraph - 28th September 2009 Attached... Outside of Sydney the threat is just as real. The hamlet of Catherine Hill Bay , which is supposedly very picturesque, was nearly overrun but saved at the last minute by the Land and Environment Court . Now I've never been to Catherine Hill Bay but I may want to visit it one day and when I do I don't want it to look like Brisbane .
    Thousands Turn Up To Mourn - North Short Times - 27th September 2009 Attached ... Celebrity speakers including Jono Coleman, Michael Caton, Catriona Rowntree and Wendy Harmer slammed the state government for high rise developments and planning issues around the North Shore and further afield, calling for the state government's planning reforms to be wound back and for Ku-ring-gai to be “down zoned” from current high rise zonings.
    Tell'em They're Dreaming - SMH - September 28th 2009 Attached ... From Balmain and Beecroft, Catherine Hill Bay and Ku-ring-gai, Dungog and Double Bay , from all parts of the state, the people had come to unload on its unloved government. To put its next government on notice.
    Community Faith Lost in Planning Strategy - Newcastle Herald - 12th September 2009 Attached ...the whole Lower Hunter Regional Strategy has been affected by the deal and should be thrown out and redone.
    Clean Up This Mess - SMH - 10th September 2009 Attached ... Take Justice David Lloyd's resounding rejection of Frank Sartor's Catherine Hill Bay mega-approval, a rare triumph for intelligence and fair play over seemingly insuperable government venality. A hallelujah moment.
    Focuses Minds On The Real Schmozzle - SMH Editorial - 3rd September 2009 Attached ... The 600-home proposal for that tiny hamlet is ludicrously disproportionate. In an industry already muddied by political donations, restoring the status quo is the only way to return the appearance of propriety to Government decision-making.
    Door Open For Talks On Housing Project - SMH - 2nd September 2009 Attached ... Kirsty Ruddock, principal solicitor at the Environmental Defenders Office, which ran the case, said the proposal to build 600 houses at Catherine Hill Bay was completely inappropriate and had to be redone.
    Land Bribe Exposes Labor's Cosiness With Property Developers - SMH - 1st September 2009 Attached ... IN HIS withering 33-page decision, Judge David Lloyd never mentions the $143,500 Rose Group donated to the Labor Party in the lead-up to the last NSW election.

    But he does something more. He describes what happened at Catherine Hill Bay as a ''land bribe''.

    With that one phrase, that one b-word, the judge crystallised the adverse public sentiment towards so much of the planning process in NSW: big developers make big donations and get rich from approvals for big projects.

    ALP Donor Projects Scuttled - SMH - 1st September 2009 Attached ... A crushing judgment in the Land and Environment Court has swept away plans by Rose Group to build 600 houses at the coastal hamlet of Catherine Hill Bay , south of Newcastle , and another 187 houses at nearby Gwandalan on Lake Macquarie , and sounded the death knell for developments at both sites planned by Coal & Allied.
    "Smitten" Sartor Went Too Far - SMH - 1st September 2009 Attached ... THE former NSW planning minister Frank Sartor was ''enamoured'' of a ''land bribe'' exchange when he approved a huge housing development at Catherine Hill Bay , the Land and Environment Court ruled yesterday.
    NSW Government's Approval of 800 Homes Overturned - Daily Telegraph - 1st September 2009 Attached ... The NSW Land and Environment Court ruled yesterday that the state's approval of almost 800 new homes in southern Lake Macquarie was void because the planning minister at the time - Frank Sartor - might not have been impartial and unprejudiced in his decision.
    Earlier newpaper coverage

    Click here to access earlier newspaper coverage

     

    What We Think Is Reasonable
    Progress Association's Policy Position 24th Sept 06 - Amended 24th February 2008

    POLICY POSITION – Catherine Hill Bay Progress Association ( 24 September 2006 ; amended 24 th February 2008 ).

    1. This Catherine Hill Bay community meeting supports the intention of government to create a National Park on the Wallarah Peninsula comprising areas in each of the large land holdings held by Coal and Allied and Rose Group.
    2. The community acknowledges that such an outcome may involve some limited, sympathetic development, as per the Lake Macquarie Council Heritage and Conservation guidelines as they stand today. Any development is to be resolved through detailed planning and community consultation.
    3. Careful location of any proposed development is crucial, and this meeting believes that any proposed development should be restricted to south of Montefiore St and at the western end of Colliery Road . The community's support is conditional on separation of the development from the heritage village and conservation areas, and preparation of appropriate Conservation and Land Use Management Plans for the proposed development sites.
    4. In this regard the community again notes and endorses the undertakings of the Minister for Planning, Mr Sartor, to appoint a community reference group and a design review panel (with professionally qualified nominated representatives of the Progress Association) to oversight development plans. The community notes and endorses the Minister's confirmation that Catherine Hill Bay village and adjoining landscape, from coast to western ridges, will be given State Heritage listing.
    5. We will continue to press forward and operate in good faith with Coal and Allied even though reports on community consultations as conducted by Coal & Allied at workshops, regional forum and charette process misrepresented community views and the results of these were misleading. The community expresses our disappointment that Rose Group has made only minimal attempts to consult with the community.
    6. Again the community asserts that the current negotiations to achieve the outcomes sought by Government and community should not be subverted, or corrupted, in a way that permits development similar to that which has been properly rejected by the local Councils and/or the Land and Environment Court .
    7. At Catherine Hill Bay Rose Group and Coal & Allied Pty Ltd have proposed development in the heritage village and Coastal Zone, similar to that rejected by Lake Macquarie City Council, the Court, and community. RoseCorp's proposal for the Moonee Colliery site and Coal & Allied's proposal for Middle Camp appear to be contrary to all relevant State planning policies.
    8. The community believes that an ”historic opportunity” to provide an outstanding environmental and conservation outcome for the Lower Hunter will be lost if the Government permits development that is contrary to a raft of State regional and planning policies and is against the public interest.
    9. The community is grateful for the widespread support it has received for its campaign to protect Catherine Hill Bay and acknowledges its role as caretaker of a place that is special to many thousands of people.
    What We Think Is Reasonable

    In early September Minister Sartor chaired a briefing at Catherine Hill Bay during which two large owners, Coal and Allied (a subsidiary of Rio Tinto) and RoseCorp, made over view presentations of their intentions (with no detail).

    The briefing was attended by representatives of Lake Macquarie and Wyong councils, and representatives of the Catherine Hill Bay , Nords Wharf and Gwandalan communities.

    On 24 September the Catherine Hill Bay community met to consider the issues and carried a resolution setting out the community's views on what was reasonable development at the Bay, and how to go about it.

    Neither the community nor Progress Association is opposed to development.

    The resolution was conveyed to Government three weeks before the announcement of the Lower Hunter Regional Strategy, and is shown in the Resolution of 24th September 2006 below

     

     

    NSW Coastal Conference 2006
    NSW Coastal Conference 2006 Presentation

    All coastal communities face potentially dire consequences as the State Government changes established planning policies and processes to give development rights to coastal lands where no such rights exist under "the rules".

    The Wallarah Peninsula Alliance put the case for the coastal communities at the NSW Coastal Conference at Coffs Harbour on 7 November 2006.

    Read the speech, and view the powerpoint presentation (10MB)

     

    Wallarah Peninsula Alliance
    Wallarah Peninsula Alliance protest

    The WPA protest letter is attached

     

    Our Supporters
      If your group supports us, email us now for listing here.
    Newcastle Council Read their resolution of 5th December 2006
    Nature Conservation Council

    Read the resolution of the Nature Conservation Council condemming this development

    National Trust

    Read their letter opposing this development

     

    Letters

    Sydney Morning Herald - 4th September 2009

    Facts speak with many voices on Catherine Hill Bay

    The Land and Environment Court has reminded the State Government that deals with developers must not come before plans for the people, despite what Frank Sartor says ("Let's have a little sanity - and a new planning act", September 3).

    Consultation is the key to development plans in any area, and the National Trust supports Justice David Lloyd's judgment that the entire consultation and subsequent determination in the Catherine Hill Bay case was biased by the "land bribe".

    Two years ago the National Trust called on the minister for heritage to place Catherine Hill Bay on the State Heritage Register. We again ask the minister, Kristina Keneally, to list this significant heritage site before considering any further development proposals.

    John Neish Executive director, National Trust of Australia (NSW), Sydney

    Sydney Morning Herald - 4th September 2009

    Frank Sartor attempts to vindicate the decisions he made as planning minister. He notes that the planning strategy for Catherine Hill Bay was ''well received'', but does not mention the public opposition to development in the area.

    The fact that Sartor ignores the wishes of the many citizens who rejected the proposed development shows the extent of the divide between the elected leaders of this state and its electorate.

    Deborah Pelser Killara

    Sydney Morning Herald - 4th September 2009

    "Let the facts speak for themselves," says Frank Sartor. Well, they did, and Justice David Lloyd was listening. What he heard them say was bribery and corruption. The answer is not a new planning act but a new government that will not seek to legitimise bribery in development approvals.

    John Murphy Sydney

    Sydney Morning Herald - 4th September 2009

    Here is a policy matter for Barry O'Farrell (''Time for O'Farrell to open the barrel'', September 3). Will he undertake to save Catherine Hill Bay from destruction?

    Geoffrey Williamson Woollahra

    Sydney Morning Herald - 3rd September 2009

    Has Simon Mansfield (Letters, September 2) actually been to Catherine Hill Bay? It is a complete 19th century mine-built town, with very few variations to the original streetscape. The only other example in NSW, to my knowledge, is Hill End, a vibrant and appreciated heritage-protected town. Would an AVJennings home be considered appropriate there, let alone 600 of Rosecorp's dinky-style houses?

    The fact that Catherine Hill Bay is on the coast should not be an excuse for its destruction.

    Elisabeth Goodsall Wahroonga

    Sydney Moring Herald - 2nd September 2009

    Congratulations are due to the Land and Environment Court judge, whose decision in the Catherine Hill Bay case should clearly demonstrate to developers and the ALP the difference between public interest and private gain (''ALP donor housing project scuttled by court'', September 1).

    Sound urban development involves compromises between economic, environmental and social goals, reached through a genuinely transparent and participatory process. In this case, Frank Sartor seems to have sadly confused a "closed door" deal with the rigours of open negotiations. I can only hope the current planning minister will remove the stench of deal-making between the development lobby and politicians.

    Not every group that protests against development is right. But it makes the case for balanced urban development much harder when the Government's intentions are automatically assumed to be suspicious or biased.

    Gary Moore Balmain

    Sydney Moring Herald - 2nd September 2009

    Now that the Land and Environment Court has ruled the Catherine Hill development illegal, can someone please tell me the difference between a ''donation'' and a ''bribe''?

    Gary Gibbs Rozelle

    Click here to access earlier letters

     

    Community Survey
    Jan 2007 Community Survey

    The Catherine Hill Bay Community Survey has been conducted every four years since 1994 and provides an informed and comprehensive record of community attitudes over almost 15 years. Click here to view the results.

     

    Other
    Protecting the Wallarah Booklet

    Available now : A booklet "Protecting the Wallarah Peninsula" is available. Please click here for more information about this booklet, and how you can obtain your free copy.