HAWKESBURY Council will support a change in its Local Environment Plan to allow Sydney Polo Club to host the Polo World Cup in 2017.
Council will submit a proposed change to its LEP to the state government’s Department of Planning, which will make a decision on whether to allow the changes or not.
The Richmond Lowlands, where Sydney Polo Club and various other polo clubs are located, is not actually zoned to allow for polo, however, Council generally speaking looks the other way and does not enforce those rules.
The club applied to Council to change the LEP for its land, and that of some neighbours, to allow for the world cup to take place.
However, some of the requested uses of the land such as a medical centre and a micro-brewery raised the eyebrows of some councillors.
Hawkesbury Mayor Kim Ford said he was expecting to see a DA for temporary buildings.
“I am generally surprised by the number of proposed uses,” he said.
“I have a narrow view of things and I am thinking we are trying to get the world cup of polo down there and I am thinking temporary grandstands and marquees.
“You could see some of the new structures from the moon.
“There are a lot of things to be considered and I am very nervous about all the things we need to allow [with this DA], when we just want to play polo.”
Cr Patrick Conolly said the DA was exactly the sort of thing council had been crying out for.
“I think these are all things we would want to happen down there,” he said.
“These are all things we have asked our community for and someone has come along and said they have the money to do it. We need to jump at it.”
He added that when a DA was submitted in the past to have a restaurant on the Sydney Polo Club grounds, Cr Ford said it was not up to Council to change the LEP to suit a person’s business interests, but rather the applicant should apply to Council to change the LEP.
Cr Conolly said this was exactly what had happened in this situation, and could see other councillors trying to throw hurdles in the way.
Cr Bob Porter said the fact the site was in a floodway meant Council should be careful what it allowed to be built on the site.
“I am not against the polo I think it is terrific,” he said.
“If you are going to run the world cup in a flood zone you would look at temporary buildings like what they did with the Olympics in Sydney.”
Rebecca Higgins, who along with husband Peter are the owners of Sydney Polo Club, gave a speech to Council, where she implored the Councillors to get on board.
“This community is a very special community. The eyes of everybody are here on this Council and this community,” she said.
“The world cup is something we have worked very hard on.
“To be able to bring this back to the Hawkesbury is a wonderful opportunity not only for Sydney Polo Club but for the rest of our community.
“There have been a few issues [in the past] with the weddings but let us draw a line in the sane. This is not about us.”
Mark Wilson, who said he was speaking on behalf of an unnamed neighbour, said he objected the DA.
He said the DA called for a number of uses which would be enjoyed by an ‘enclave’, while the rest of the Richmond Lowlands neighbours would be excluded.
“This would be an enclave where some residents and a small band of neighbours get to enjoy 19 new uses which are not permissible to the neighbours to the east,” he said.
“Why should they only be made for a limited enclave, why not for the entire community down there?”
