B2B - Keeping you in the know
David Harris-Member for Wyong
Wyong is an electorate that is growing every day with new housing estates and it needs the infrastructure to support that growth . Since being elected first in 2007 then again in 2015 I have been lobbying for the promised new Warnervale Town Centre and associated infrastructure . At the end of last year I wrote to Woolworths and also asked questions of the NSW Government . The responses I have had to my enquiries are very disappointing and I believe all parties need to constructively work towards developing this promised project .
In a letter from Woolworths in response to my enquiries regarding a time line for the new shopping centre , Woolworths , which owns the land at the top of the hill has put its project on hold and is not proceeding at this time because it is waiting for certain infrastructure , including residential housing , a library , aquatic centre and retirement accommodation to be completed .
Transport4NSW , in a response to a question on notice in Parliament , stated that at the moment it was not proceeding with the promised North Warnervale railway station at this time because it was also waiting for future growth to occur . UrbanGrowth NSW , which owns the land at the bottom of the hill , in its response stated that : It will soon commence a public tender offering of its land holding at Warnervale . A sale of the land is consistent with the directive the Minister has given UrbanGrowth NSW to transition from a developer and seller of residential lots to a transformation agency focusing on key urban renewal projects , located near major infrastructure on government land .
A successful sale of the land at Warnervale will create an opportunity for a private developer to take advantage of the existing development approval issued for the site by the Central Coast Council .
That opportunity will be the development on the land of over 137
homes with the further benefit of providing a catalyst for future development of the Town Centre .
There lies the problem . The original idea was that the Government would build the affordable residential blocks through Landcom ( now UrbanGrowth NSW ).
We now have the problem that UrbanGrowth NSW is not developing its land , Woolworths is delaying developing the shopping centre and Transport4NSW is currently not proceeding to build the railway station . Meanwhile hundreds of new housing blocks are being developed in the Warnervale precinct .
Many people bought in the area , drawn there by real estate advertising and property people saying that there will be a town centre , a railway station and a shopping development at Warnervale .
The people who are moving to the area are scratching their heads and wondering why the Government will not make it a significant site and provide the catalyst by developing the land to get the whole thing moving , which was the original plan when Labor was in government .
I will be campaigning right up until the next election to force the NSW Liberal Government to provide the catalyst , funding and direction to get this project moving . This development was promised in 1975 – enough is enough It ’ s time to get the Warnervale Town Centre moving .
Regards , David Harris MP , Member for Wyong
April 2017 | Business 2 Business with a Twist
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