Old Air Services Australia Site – Northern Road, Cranebrook

The National Trust is concerned that the 181 hectare Old Air Services Australia Site at Northern Road, Cranebrook has been sold by the Federal Government to a property developer with expectations that a rezoning of the site by Penrith Council would allow residential development on this land.

 

Penrith City Council’s 1997 Flora and Fauna Corridors Study identified the entire site as a flora and fauna corridor and it is the vital link for this purpose between the former ADI site and the bushland northwards from Cranebrook to Castlereagh and Agnes Banks.

 

The Trust understands that the New South Wales Department of Environment and Conservation has unequivocably argued that zoning of this site should protect it in its entirety: -

 

 

"Based on the assessments that have been undertaken to date it is clear that the site has significant biodiversity and Aboriginal heritage values.  The DEC considers that those values must clearly drive any future decisions regarding the site.

Having regard to those values, the DEC is of the firm view that the site has virtually no development potential.  Given the identified conservation values and its size, shape, and current and likely future surrounding land uses, the protection of the entire site is therefore considered essential to maintaining its ecological integrity and the protection of Aboriginal heritage.

The DEC therefore considers that strong preference should be given to ensuring that the LEP delivers protection for the site as a whole. Options to achieve this outcome will obviously need to be the subject of further discussion.  However, the DEC is not convinced that simply because the land has passed into private ownership that this in itself provides clear justification for making the site available for development".

 

It is regrettable that, at the time of its sale, the Federal  Minister for the Environment is reported to have said that the site contained no significant conservation values.

 

A report recently prepared for the developers by Conacher Travers examined part of the site and found (in terms of the Threatened Species Conservation Act, 1995) that there were seven threatened flora species, two Endangered Ecological Communities and two threatened fauna species.

 

This site contains open forest of Eucalyptus fibrosa (Broad-leaved Ironbark and Eucalyptus moluccana (Grey Box) and Castlereagh Scribbly Gum Woodland of Eucalyptus sclerophylla (Scribbly Gum) and Angophora bakeri (Narrow-leaved Apple). This vegetation forms part of the broader collection of Cumberland Plain Woodland which has been largely cleared with only key valuable remnants remaining.

 

This site should be purchased under the existing NSW Government Growth Centres Conservation Fund which was specifically established to acquire high value conservation land in the Western Sydney Region to balance the planned growth centres.

 

The Trust strongly urges that Penrith Council zone the entire site for conservation purposes and rejects any proposal for residential development.

 

Images courtesy of Save Cranebrook Committee