Coastal strategy greenwash exposed
Thursday, 20 April 2006 01:21
In a first of many expected schemes, a major developer in the Hunter is pushing for a rezoning of inappropriate land not designated for development, through use of loopholes (called 'sustainability criteria'). The draft strategies released for the Lower Hunter, Far North Coast and South Coast all have these highly suspect criteria.
Advice from the Environmental Defenders Office, a public interest law firm has confirmed; "The sustainability criteria allow the clearly designated areas and planning for development in the Strategy to be avoided...the criteria are merely "considerations" and have significant potential to undermine the purported environmental protection goals of the Lower Hunter regional Strategy."
The environment groups said: “The criteria must be removed, if there is to be any hope for protection from overdevelopment and "urban sprawl' for our coastal regions. They don't achieve sustainability, but have been inserted to give developers what they want under vague, unenforceable and dangerous provisions. It's a transgression of good environmental planning - it's a simple case of greenwashing,” they said.
The Hunter scheme located at Paxton near Cessnock is being promoted by Hardie Holdings. It fails on a number of key grounds including - accessible transport options; creates pollution risks for an endangered freshwater wetlands complex; will clear two endangered ecological communities; and is unconvincing on regional and local employment criteria. The local community is actively opposing this development.
The Department of Planning had already rejected the site as being unsuitable for development due to its distance from public transport and community services.
”The inclusion of these "sustainability criteria" create uncertainty for the community, planners and local councils. The developers might win, but it's a loss for everyone else,” the groups said.
