Hills Shire loses planning powers for hotel development
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The Hills Shire Council has lost its planning powers over plans to transform the Bull’n’Bush Hotel site into high-rise towers.
The council was stripped of its powers in the wake of a battle with developers Dyldam.
The proposal was to build three multi-storey towers at the site, at the junction of Windsor, Seven Hills and Old Northern roads. Dyldam was seeking the demolition of the hotel for 200 apartments in two 15-storey towers and an eight-storey tower. The library and community centre would be sold back to the council.
The council however called for the developers to withdraw their application in December last year. The councillors said local infrastructure was not sufficient to meet the demands of the size and scale of the proposal.
The council subsequently lost its planning authority over the proposal with the NSW Planning Department issuing the Sydney City Central Planning Panel with approval authority.
Hills Shire Mayor Michelle Byrne said the council stood by its concerns
“The Baulkham Hills Town Centre at this point in time cannot cope with further development,” Cr Byrne told the Daily Telegraph.
“The roads through the Baulkham Hills Town Centre need to be upgraded in order to cope with the traffic levels we already have without the increase in traffic caused by further development.”
West Ward councillor Mike Thomas the planning panel should consider what impact this development would have on the community.
“These planning panels have no interest on the impact their decisions have on our residents,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“They do not care about our community and have no regard or interest on our community.
“Our residents will never get any justice with these conflicted, bureaucratic panels.”
However, a NSW Planning Department spokeswoman said the Planning Department did not strip council of its authority. What happened, she told the Daily Telegraph, was that the council itself had resolved not to support and not to proceed with its planning proposal, after initially agreeing to proceed. As allowed by the legislation, Dyldam had requested the appointment of an alternative planning proposal authority.
Leon Gettler - 1st August 2018
