East Maitland residents upset about plans for a caravan park between the tip and Watergum Street

More than 300 residents have signed a petition against plans to create a 228 site caravan park, with permanent housing, between the tip and Watergum Street. 

The petition will form part of resident feedback, which must be submitted to Maitland council by close of business today. 

Kym Mitchell, who lives across the road from the site, said residents had a range of concerns including increased traffic, road safety, the impact on the area’s rural amenity and land values, and the implications of opening the park to permanent residents.

She said the concerns were not confined to residents in the estate that borders the site, and people living in Rathluba housing estate were also worried.

If the plan goes ahead Watergum Street could be extended to create an intersection with Mount Vincent Road.

Vehicles would travel down Johnson Drive to access the park. Ms Mitchell said that road was not designed for lots of traffic, or caravans and RVs.

“We all have to give way to each other as it is because there’s always so many cars parked on the side of the road and there’s often children running around,” she said.

She also raised concerns about the amount of traffic that already uses Mount Vincent Road – a feeder road to the Hunter Expressway – and said there was a blind spot on the stretch where the intersection with Watergum Street was proposed.

“If we had to have something put there an entry to the site from Mount Vincent Road would be better,” she said.

Ms Mitchell said residents were still in the dark about how much permanent housing would occupy the site, and those details should have been released with the site plan. 

“The proposal says its for permanent residents but it doesn’t say whether it’s for every single site,” she said.

“All the residents will be looking into the back of all these places,”

Submit your feedback at info@maitland.nsw.gov.au