By Jo Obronschka
NEWCASTLE — Environmentalists and concerned residents are outraged at a proposal to allow a new township of 17,000 people to be built on a coastal dune area at Fern Bay, 15 kilometres north of here.
The council has asked the NSW minister for planning to enable the development to go ahead. The site to be developed involves 480 hectares of coastal and hind dune area and forms part of the Newcastle Bight, a complex dune system stretching 15 kilometres along the coast. It is owned by both a private company (Howship Holdings) and the government (the Department of Housing and the Department of Conservation and Land Management).
There is more than just the issue of coastal development here. The coastal dunes are moving landward at an average rate of 3.2 metres per year. A large part of the site contains unexploded ordnance left over from the days when the site was used as a mortar proofing range.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service has identified endangered species believed to be found on the site including koalas, the glossy black cockatoo, the yellow-bellied sheathtail bat and the powerful owl. There are several Aboriginal heritage sites throughout the area.
Stabilising the sand dunes to allow development to take place is a major problem. In addition to the issue of whether it is environmentally sustainable, the question arises of whether it is financially sustainable. Who pays for the damage and displacement in the event of a storm or blow-out? This issue has not been adequately addressed in the local environmental study submitted with the plan to the Department of Planning.
There is a proposal to use sewage to stabilise the dunes. This involves placing an effluent trench in the dunes and allowing the effluent to seep or infiltrate into the sand. Approximately 90% of the fluids will filter toward the ocean and the other 10% will filter into the ground water. In effect, this would be a slow trickle ocean outfall.
The most pressing problem is the unexploded ordnance and the possibility of asbestos on the site. According to a tender document by the Department of Housing, which intends to sell its property, there are nine separate areas of "heavy contamination" of asbestos surrounded by larger areas of "light contamination" on the Department of Housing land. This material came from more than a dozen structures formerly on the site.
The tender document goes on to state that the site is expected to contain "one or more buried dumps of solid shot with 10% of high explosive rounds". It also states that "if the site was developed the most danger would occur during the construction phase".
The Commonwealth and state governments will accept no liability for people injured in old target areas.
The mayor of Port Stephens, Innes Creighton, a Port Stephens real estate agent, is friends with the developer, but he says that his enthusiasm for the Fern Bay development has nothing to do with friendship and everything to do with "the best interests" of Port Stephens.
He sees the Fern Bay development as a proposal imposing practically no costs on the council while at the same time offering future rate income he estimates as likely to approach $5 million a year.
Understandably, there has been considerable community concern about the association between the developer and certain members of the council. The Newcastle Greens have initiated an investigation, by the Department of Local Government and the Ombudsman, into the proposal.