Issue 145 25 July, 2018
Your independent community newspaper - Ph: 4325 7369
Pristine environmental bushland turned into a desolate wasteland M
assive clearing in Ourimbah Rd, Kangy Angy, to make way for the NSW G o v e r n m e n t ’s Intercity Rail Fleet Maintenance Facility, has already turned pristine E2 and E3 bushland into a desolate w a s t e l a n d , according to residents.
E2 land at Kangy Angy before clearing
E2 land at Kangy Angy after clearing
They know they’ve lost the war, but members of the Kangy Angy Residents’ Action Group (KARAG) do battle every day to hold to account Transport for NSW and its contractor, John Holland, as the land clearing commences to make way for the NSW Government facility that will maintain its new intercity fleet of trains. It could’ve been built on industrial land at Warnervale, but the former Wyong Council, having other plans for Warnervale, encouraged Transport for NSW to acquire E2-E3 wetlands at Kangy Angy. The sale of the Kangy Angy land went through while Central Coast Council was under administration. A plea from the elected Central Coast Council to move the project to Warnervale was ignored by Transport for NSW. Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Scot MacDonald,
recently turned the first sod for work at Kangy Angy to commence and, since then, residents continue to witness the devastation of their semirural neighbourhood. A resident recently found a dead baby platypus, whilst another family believes endangered pigmy possums have been rendered homeless by the land clearing. “As you turn right into Orchard Rd, it is horrendous, all the trees are gone,” said KARAG spokesperson, Tracey Stewart. “Then when you come back out and drive along Enterprise Dve, at Chittaway Rd, all the trees are gone, because they are starting to take the trees out for the rail bridge,” she said. “No, we did not anticipate it being this bad, especially along Ourimbah Rd, where we had the expectation that the foliage along the road was going to be retained.” When the clearing along Ourimbah Rd commenced, residents called Jamie Seaton, the John Holland officer responsible for liaising with residents. “He came down with a map and said, ‘oh no, because we are changing where the power lines are going, we had to take that foliage too.”
Office: 3 Amy Close, Wyong Phone: 4325 7369 Mail: PO Box 1056, Gosford 2250 E-mail: editorial@centralcoastnews.net Website: www.centralcoastnews.net
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