A resident group’s campaign to stop housing development on the former Morpeth Bowling Club site will this week hit Macquarie Street.
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Morpeth Heritage Conservation Group has collected more than 1100 signatures in a petition that calls on the state government to buy back the site, which used to be Crown land and part of the Morpeth Common, and reinstate it as a recreation area.
Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison will present the petition in NSW Parliament this week.
The government will have to respond within 35 days as more than 500 people signed the petition.
Group president Simon Brooker said residents were forced to act after Morpeth Land Company put forward plans to build 22 medium-density homes for seniors on the site, and Maitland councillors agreed to add the land to its Maitland Urban Settlement Strategy.
The strategy governs future development in the Maitland Local Government Area.
The council has passed the plans onto the government, which will assess the application and decide whether it should be approved.
Mr Brooker said the site was listed on Morpeth’s 1840 town plan and the proposed development would have a negative impact on the town’s heritage and character.
The old clubhouse on the site is already being converted into a childcare centre and it has the town’s support.
“Nobody opposes the childcare centre because there is a need for it in this area,” Mr Brooker said.
“Morpeth has enough seniors housing, just look at Closebourne, it was supposed to be for the over 55’s and there wasn’t enough demand so the land has been opened to the rest of the market.”
Mr Brooker said Ms Aitchison had recently visited the site and was aware of the group’s concerns.