Progress on the controversial Wallalong-Woodville residential development has come to a grinding halt.
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The mayor of Port Stephens, Cr Bruce Mackenzie, said new approval guidelines, brought in under the state government’s Hunter Regional Growth Plan, had stalled the major subdivision.
A group of nine developers, led by the McCloy Group, proposed 3500 lots on 630 hectares south-west and north of the High Street and Woodville Road intersection.
The HRGP is a set of guidelines that address sustainability and growth in the Hunter Region and are aimed at large developments.
Cr Mackenzie said the approval process for the 9000-person community had not moved forward since mid-2014, when the Department of Planning and Environment rejected the plan.
Cr Mackenzie said he was disappointed at the delay, but Voice of Wallalong and Woodville spokesman Bob Beale celebrated the win for the group although he doubted this would prevent the development from going ahead eventually.
He feared the results would be catastrophic in the event of another flood similar to that of April this year.
“Can you imagine how that [such a flood] would affect 10,000 people?” Mr Beale asked.
“I was cut off for six days by road and had no power for seven days.
“There were elderly people with no medicine.”
Mr Beale said he believed the development would also have a huge effect on the nearby communities of Woodville and Wallalong with a lack of public transport, increased road congestion and no mains water.
Cr Mackenzie said: “The roads are congested now and I can’t say if they will be in the future.”
Impact of a flood would be catastrophic: group spokesman
Voice of Wallalong and Woodville spokesman Bob Beale said a proposed development of 3500 lots in the area would have a significant impact on surrounding rural communities.
He said the area did not have adequate infrastructure to cope with the extra 9000 people that the development could attract.
Apart from the problems of potential flooding, he said a community traffic study showed that roads in the area were at capacity and the area was serviced by two one-lane bridges.
Mr Beale said although he would like to see a new bridge built over the Hunter River, that would not solve the problem of access during a flood.
The mayor of Port Stephens, Cr Bruce Mackenzie, said the only way a new bridge would be built was if the Wallalong-Woodville development went ahead. He said a sub-division for fewer than 9000 people would cost too much for the developers to pay for a new bridge.
