Despite the Mayor being on leave for the month of March to address a health issue (get well soon, Mayor!), Council is well and truly back into the swing of things as evidenced by the foreshadowing of a plethora of engagement activities and the Kiama Central Precinct having a packed agenda at their last meeting. 

Council will be embarking on a new Community Engagement Strategy which is “taking a fresh new direction, engaging with diverse voices alongside traditional stakeholders, ensuring we have a strategy that truly represents our community". The Bugle looks forward to hearing about this new way of engaging with the entire community, because it is important to hear the views of not just one age group, or a particular cohort of locals.

If we want to continue to prosper, we need to ensure we are listening to everyone. Arguably, we as a community have had the same conversation over and over again, how did we protect, how do we stop, how do we stay the same. It appears that Council wants to take a different approach and hear from the younger generation and other parts of the community - those that are looking for jobs, those that are providing jobs, and those that are struggling to obtain and even provide basic services and amenities for our area.  

The Bugle is all for this fresh new direction and hopes that it provides for more equitable outcomes. 

After a significant delay, it appears Council will now be engaging on its Growth and Housing Strategy which presumably will include how Council will address the significant housing affordability crisis in Kiama. 

This coincides with some significant milestones for future growth proposals across the region:

· The Southern Region Panel refused the Dido Street subdivision, 

· South Kiama is in the midst of progressing its development application, 

· Springside Hill planning proposal has been lodged and is now being assessed by Council.

However one proposal has re-emerged and caught our attention - Bombo Quarry. 

Bombo Quarry was the only proposal to be mentioned twice by Council in its media release regarding future growth and community engagement. There are proposals that are in ‘the system’ and can deliver housing in the short term, but is Council focused on the very long-term vision at Bombo?

The Bugle understands that there are multiple landowners involved in the quarry that would all need to agree on the future plan for the area. And then presumably there’d be a need for remediation and ‘filling’ the site to make it suitable for development now.

That is why the last we (officially) heard; Bombo Quarry was a ‘medium term’ solution.

We also heard direct from Boral, one of the largest landowners at Bombo, that their plans look to be providing houses ‘in 5-10 years’.

Is there something that we’re all missing? Is Bombo Quarry ready for development now?

The Bugle’s View is that these are questions that need to be answered, and we look forward to Council consulting with the community and giving us the facts.