A STATE government body has blocked Hawkesbury Council’s attempt to allow detached second homes on rural properties, in a move that has been described as disappointing and a furphy by Hawkesbury councillors.
Mayor Kim Ford and Councillor Bob Porter were both upset by the decision to block the proposed changes.
The state government’s planning department said it was concerned about more people moving into the area and causing problems with flood evacuation.
Under current Hawkesbury planning laws, rural properties can have a second home, but they must be attached to the original house.
Blocks of land in the built-up areas of the region such as Windsor and Richmond allow for detached second houses.
Cr Ford said he was very disappointed by the decision to use flood evacuation as an excuse.
“If the government is worried about the flood evacuation problem, why don't they do something about the evacuation routes?” he said.
“If they are concerned about the volume of people on arterial roads, why are they putting 10,000 between Windsor and Rouse Hill?
“The reason we can't evacuate down those roads safely is because they're already chock full of people.”
Cr Ford said he did not see why 200-300 extra houses in the rural areas of the Hawkesbury would add an extra burden during evacuation times.
“One of the easiest ways to give us more time for evacuation is to reduce the levels of Warragamba Dam,” he said.
Cr Bob Porter has long pushed for detached dual occupancy on rural properties, and said the reason for the refusal from the state government was illogical.
He said there were already a number of places in the Hawkesbury’s rural areas with two houses on them, and changing the planning laws would simply allow those people to live within the law.
“The advice we got back was that it would affect evacuation during flood time. It is just a furphy,” he said.
“You only have to drive around the place and see the big homes being built and the old cottage is a long way away. People would be more than happy to put in a retrospective DA.”
Cr Porter said in the past when he had raised the issue with Council staff, he had been directed to dob in people who had more than one house on their land.
“It is not my intention to stop these second dwellings. My intentions are to make these places legal,” he said.
“I want to give people the opportunity to make these places liveable and legal and I've been blocked at every opportunity.”
Cr Porter said most of the Hawkesbury’s rural land would not need to be evacuated at flood times.
