Morpeth Heritage Conservation Group president Simon Brooker said plans for an extra 88 self-contained dwellings in the suburb, which will go before Maitland council on Tuesday night, was part of a larger project.

He said seniors housing had to be built within 400 metres of services so residents could walk to and from the post office and shops.

He said plans to run a bus service that picked up passengers at the site in the morning and dropped them off in the afternoon was not adequate. 

“It would take someone seven to eight hours to post a letter,” Mr Brooker said. 

“The whole plan is absurd and it’s disgraceful … it’s a loophole that’s allowing [the developer] to do this.

“The councillors must look at the development as a whole, not in two parts. 

“It should have been referred to the Joint Regional Planning Panel.”

Maitland council approved 74 self-contained dwellings and a community centre, which will incorporate an indoor pool, on Duckenfield Road in May last year. That application was also submitted by developer Hilton Grugeon. 

Council staff said the councillors should consider both applications but noted that the latest development application was a “stand alone housing development that does not rely on the previous development approval issued for the site”.

“This DA should be considered in conjunction with previous approved DA; and impacts onto the existing rural /landscape character of the locality,” the report said. 

Council staff also said the site could end up with 162 dwellings if the latest plan was also approved.

That would create a similar housing density to the original application, which was withdrawn in 2015. If the initial application had not been withdrawn it would have gone before the Joint Regional Planning Panel for a verdict.