Tallawarra: the power and the passion

ROD WISE

Residents of the East Dapto area are anxiously awaiting news that the veil of secrecy over development plans for 2000 housing lots on the old Tallawarra power station site may soon be drawn back.

“These plans were hatched very secretly on the watch of the discredited former Wollongong City Council,’’ said Ms Maureen Magee of CRED (Concerned Residents of East Dapto). “We’re hoping that the new administrators will have a genuine commitment to transparency.”

According to Greens MP, Sylvia Hale, while addressing the NSW Legislative Council this month, transparency was hardly present when the former power station was originally offloaded.

In 2003, the 600ha site was sold by the Carr Government to the US power company TXU in “a secret deal for $4 million upfront and $11 million to be paid later when the power station was operating on 65ha of the site”, she said. Ms Hale also alleged to the Legislative Council that subsequently, “in what has become an increasingly common scenario”, TXU had made a substantial donation to the NSW Branch of the ALP.

In 2005, however, the Americans onsold the site to TRUenergy, the Australian subsidiary of the China Light and Power Company, whose eventual draft plans for the non-power generating segment of the land have already caused much consternation among residents of established surrounding suburbs.

Ms Magee said the plans were quite inadequate, but what little they do show, was enough to set off local alarm bells.

“People don’t realise that TRU’s proposal takes in the entire waterfront from Koonawarra Bay to Haywards Bay,” she said, “so it’s not just local residents who will be affected by the visual pollution. The whole site will be clearly visible from many parts of Lake Illawarra.”

She said that, “we were originally led to believe the regeneration of the site would be used to provide jobs for what is one of the highest unemployment areas in the country. But while there is provision for some light industry precincts and business parks, plus a small town centre, the real shock to us is the extent of the residential development that is proposed and the unsuitability of such a concentration of housing in this area.”

Ms Magee pointed out that under the plans, if they are approved, houses built in the areas close to existing suburbs to the north of Tallawarra would be exposed to noise levels of up to 55 decibels at night, well above the EPA’s 40-decibel maximum, while those in the western areas near Yallah, which are already subject to high rail and road noise, will reach nearly 90 decibels.

“There has also been no study done on how the area will be adequately served by sewerage infrastructure,” she said. “And as for a study as to how the area will cope with an extra 7000 residents and, supposedly, 6000 employees – not to mention customers attracted by new businesses – there just hasn’t been one.”

Ms Magee said that late last month, together with four other members of CRED, including two young female students from Kanahooka High school, who are active local horse riders, she met two of the Wollongong City Council Administrators, Ms Gabrielle Kibble and Mr Robert McGregor.

“It was obvious they were not happy with the draft LEP,” Ms Magee said, “with a strong inference that if they had been running the council at the time, such incomplete plans would not have been pushed forward so hurriedly for the Minister’s approval.

“We are really hopeful, now, that after the revelations of the recent public inquiry, a new breath of fresh air is blowing through the council.”

Ms Magee said that unconfirmed whispers around the council were hinting that the Administrators had withdrawn the draft LEP from the Minister’s office in order for substantial revisions to be made.

When approached for comment, a spokeswoman for Wollongong City Council would only say: “Council is currently developing a draft city-wide local environment plan. This draft LEP will include consideration of proposed land rezoning at Tallawarra.

“The draft LEP will be submitted to Council in the next few months with the recommendation that the document be sent to the NSW Department of Planning for approval. It will then be placed on public exhibition for the community to provide feedback.”