Liberal candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance, is concerned about Kiama Council’s Draft Local Housing Strategy creating a population explosion and detracting from the area’s natural beauty.

Constance believes there will be a negative impact from rapid development and is adamant that revamping Bombo Quarry is the way to solve Kiama’s need to expand in a sensible fashion even though it will take around a decade to get underway.

Council released its draft local housing strategy to the public on 18 February and Constance believes it will put immense pressure on local infrastructure and the environment.

“My principal concern is the housing targets that have been set by the state government, which have been informed by migration levels,” Constance told The Bugle.

“A, the local community and the local council are not going to be able to deliver the infrastructure to support the growth and B, we need to be protecting our rolling green hills and the environment.”

The Strategy states Kiama aims to build 900 new dwellings over the next five years to accommodate a population growth of nearly 7000 people within the next 15 years, which Constance said was highly ambitious.

“Kiama was first largely established in the 1830s, so it's taken the best part of 200 years to grow to 23,000 people, and then all of a sudden, within 15 years, we're going to have an extra 7000 people?” he said.

“I don't want to see small subdivisions eating into the rolling green hills, which are part of the wonderful environment, which makes Kiama what it is.

“You can't just come in with an arbitrary housing target and say, well, here you go Council, deliver this.”

Constance’s proposed solution is to develop Bombo Quarry over the next 15 years, a site he believes could accommodate up to 6000 new properties.

“The reality is, it's an end of life quarry. The transport asset holding entity is a commercial entity of the transport department. It needs to show leadership, and it should be a project of state significance,” he said.

“You could potentially put 4000 to 6000 properties in there with sporting fields, with the appropriate shopping. You've got to plan all this. You've got to plan your road network.”

Constance said if the Liberal Party won the upcoming election, likely to be held in mid-May, they would help ease the housing problem by allowing young people to access their superannuation early, by freezing the National Construction Code, banning foreign ownership of existing properties for at least two years, and pledging $5 billion for local infrastructure.

“Anybody who says they're going to fix the housing crisis tomorrow is having themselves on. This is a major intergenerational problem now, and it's got to be worked out sensibly,” he said.

Kiama Municipal Council’s Director of Planning, Environment & Communities, Ed Paterson, outlined the challenges and discussed the potential for a Bombo Quarry development on Bernie Hems' Kiama Community Radio program, Council Counsel during the week. 

Paterson said the most realistic estimate for housing on the site was 10 to 15 years or more. He also noted that parts of the quarry remain operational, with transport activities still occurring, further complicating development. 

The recent sale of Cleary Bros’ property holdings in the area adds another layer of uncertainty to the planning process.

Housing remains one of the biggest issues facing the Kiama local government area and regardless of where people stand on the issue, Constance is urging the community to review the Draft Local Housing Strategy and provide feedback.

“I'm really keen for the community input into the housing strategy, because it's probably one of the most important documents that the community could input into for a very long period of time,” he said.

The Draft Local Housing Strategy can be found here.