
Against Over Development
Most of us want to protect the things that make the Hawkesbury a special place to live. Most of us.
But finding a balance between job opportunities, housing affordability and the other things we value – things like our open spaces and semi-rural amenity – is hard.
I and my team completely oppose the kind of barely controlled, appallingly designed subdivisions that have eaten the areas on our doorstep, whole.
But we do support:
✅ Granny Flats: A more reasonable policy for allowing acreage landowners to put secondary dwellings or detached dual occupancies on their land
✅ Design excellence principles: A set of guidelines in our planning rules that make our built environment places we can be proud of – sustainable, connected and leafy
✅ Infrastructure first: When we must build, we will demand that State and Federal governments do their bit and provide necessary infrastructure first – not a decade later
My posts about 'Development'
I’ve written and spoken more about the topic of development than any other thing during this term of Council.
The debacle that is the Grose River Bridge project
When the Redbank developers promised they'd build a bridge across the Grose River back in 2012, they said the bridge would be…
The family home flooded because they live next door to development
After the March 2022 floods, for one family in Oakville, finding their lounge room flooded with water was the last thing they…
Granny Flats: You deserve more choice | Hawkesbury City Council
The way Council treats granny flats and dual occupancies in our area is insane. Some types are allowed in built up areas, but not…
Further delays to the Grose River Bridge should make you cranky
The Redbank project, and associated wrangling over the promised Grose River Bridge crossing goes all the way back to 2008. So if…
Proposed McGraths Hill motel development knockback prompts litigation
Most residents are unaware of a proposal to build a large Motel on the site of the Millers Nursery Site at McGraths Hill. That's…
Sending a strong message about inappropriate development at Kurrajong and Kurmond
At Council's meeting this week, I supported a motion to end the ‘Kurrajong-Kurmond investigation area’ process. I believe the…
Hawkesbury Radio interview, February 2021
This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Garry Cotter at Hawkesbury Radio 899 to talk about a wide range of issues.…
Hawkesbury’s Local Housing Strategy and the pressure for development
The suburbs of Vineyard, Oakville and Maraylya, sit adjacent to some very aggressive urban growth. The ‘North Western Growth…