Hundreds rallied in Wallsend to save the Link Road Forest from housing development on Sunday, but the fight is far from over.
The event marked the official launch of a campaign to call on the state government to convert the 574-hectare ecologically significant site into a national park.
Link Road Forest Campaign group convenor Ian McKenzie said the land was too valuable to lose.
“It is the home of koalas, squirrel gliders, powerful owls, masked owls, several species of microbats and various other rare and threatened species,” he explained.
“We cannot allow the loss of critically-endangered species such as scrub turpentine, or the koala, which is now listed as endangered, to occur on our watch.”
The land is currently owned by property developers Eden Estates and earmarked to host more than 4,200 new dwellings.
The state government call is one of the Hunter’s largest land rezoning projects in decades.
Located across both City of Newcastle (CN) and Lake Macquarie LGAs, councillors are up in arms over the situation.
“Figures show housing in the city is being approved at a faster rate than a growing population and with no need to lose any more bushland to re-zoning for development, which investigations have found is home to numerous threatened and endangered species,” CN Labor councillor and urban planning academic Dr Elizabeth Adamczyk said.
“The City of Newcastle is asking the NSW Government to heed the clear evidence of the social and environmental value of this site along with broad community support and expert advice to protect and conserve this site to retain key biodiversity and habitat corridors in this city and ensure the health of current and future residents.”
The Link Road Forest Campaign group launched a physical petition on 12 October for the House of Assembly, which requires 10,000 signatures to be considered.
It will be available on its website shortly.
“That will take us some time,” said Mr McKenzie.
“It’s not going to happen overnight, but it’s a good way of getting out to the people of Newcastle and talking to them.
“Not just about signing the petition but having them listen and learn about what’s been proposed and why it is important for it to be a National Park.”
Greens member and environmental lawyer Sue Higginson said she would be calling on her colleagues in the NSW Parliament to get behind the campaign.
“This brilliant community-powered and led vision for these high conservation value lands is exactly what we need right now,” she stated.
“When the land is viewed through all of the land use planning tools available, the most strategic, best and long term use is as a National Park.
“Our Protected Area Network here in NSW is currently only about 10% of the entire state.
“We desperately need to build and expand it, and Link Road Forest is precisely one of the places that should join that significant asset base.”
The group is seeking meetings with the Minister for Environment Penny Sharpe, Minister for Housing Rose Jackson and the Minister for Planning Paul Scully.
“We’ve got a lot to do, we need to talk to a lot of people and have a lot of discussions on this matter,” said Mr McKenzie.
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