Environmental Impact Statement

Western Sydney residents are up in arms about having an urban rail line, a freight rail line and a mega motorway through their communities and bushland. Hundreds will be protesting 6.30 pm Thursday 7 August, 2014, at the St Marys Community Centre, St Marys, NSW, Cnr Mamre Rd & Great Western Hwy., where Transport for NSW and Tanya Davies the local Liberal MP have reluctantly agreed to hold an extraordinary community consultation drop in session. They want to know what we think of their plan so we intend to let them know loud and clear: 'We don't like it'.

"Its not just a South West Rail Corridor its also the Outer Sydney Orbital which consists of the M9 motorway and an attached freight train rail line. 24/7 through our communities and bushland. The majority of protesters will be disgruntled Liberal voters"

"STORC therefore is very concerned that all these projects, in combination, becomes an infrastructure bomb that people, communities and the environment will never recover from. All these projects are being assessed and approved individually, in isolation to one another. Where’s the assessment of the cumulative impacts?"

"Of great concern is that the NSW Government can reserve the South West Rail and the Outer Sydney Orbital corridors and lock in the route through critically endangered bushland and people’s homes without the need to do an EIS. So once the land is acquired and community is out of the way and worn out the government then does its EIS and only has to exhibit it for 30 days. What a joke."

"So STORC wants the clock stopped on the SWRC and OSO process. We want to know the impacts of these projects before the corridor is reserved. The NSW Government and Local Government should therefore carry out a thorough environmental and social assessment/study (separate to an EIS process) to determine the cumulative impacts of these projects. The NSW Government and Local Government should also call that the EIS for a Badgerys Creek Airport come first and that it include the impacts of the infrastructure projects STORC has mentioned as they are all part of a Badgerys Ck Airport package."

"The residents of outer Western Sydney deserve to know from the NSW Government what the cumulative impacts will be on them and the environment."

PUBLIC PROTEST

WHEN: 6.30 pm Thursday, 7 August 2014

WHERE: St Marys Community Centre, Mamre Rd

WHAT: Meeting with Tanya Davies & NSW Transport Dept.

Flyer

Do you live in Orchard Hills, Claremont Meadows, Werrington, Llandilo, Windsor Downs?
Are you aware of what has been planned for your suburb?

1. MEGA M9 OUTER SYDNEY ORBITAL CORRIDOR

2. INDUSTRIAL FREIGHT TRAIN RAIL LINE CORRIDOR

3. DOMESTIC TRAIN RAIL LINE CORRIDOR

4. 24/7 AIRPORT, FLIGHT PATHS – WITHOUT CURFEW!

NO CONSIDERATION OF CUMULATIVE IMPACTS THESE FOUR MAJOR

PROJECTS WILL HAVE ON RESIDENTS & OUR LOCAL ENVIRONMENT

- WHOLE COMMUNITIES IMPACTED

- 24/7 IMPACT NOISE (TRUCKS, TRAINS & PLANES)

- POLLUTION

- OUR WAY OF LIFE LOST

- OXYGEN-GENERATING GREENSPACE DESTROYED – REPLACED WITH UGLY HEAT-TRAPPING CONCRETE & TARMAC

- OUR REMAINING GREENSPACE LOST TO DEVELOPERS & MORE URBANISATION

- LAND TAKEN

- RESUMPTION OF HOMES

- PROPERTY VALUES TRASHED

- CONSERVATION LAND DESTROYED

NO IMPACT STUDIES UNTIL AFTER APPROVAL!

10,000 ha OF FARMLAND CLEARED FOR FACTORIES & WAREHOUSES. MEGA INTERMODAL

BUILT SOUTH OF ORCHARD HILLS TO FILL THE M9 MOTORWAY WITH TRUCKS!

BRING YOUR PROTEST SIGNS, YOUR QUESTIONS, FAMILY & FRIENDS

SEE YOU THERE!

STORC Action Group – Stop The Orbital & Rail Corridor

www.facebook.com/STORCActionGroup www.wsca.org.au [email protected]

SUPPORT US BSB: 814-282 Acc: 50444587

Backgrounder

Stop the Orbital and Rail Corridor Action Group (STORC)

Is anybody assessing the cumulative impacts of multiple government infrastructure proposals on western Sydney’s people and environment? NSW Government must stop the clock.

The April 15, 2014 announcement by the Federal Government that it will construct Sydney’s second International Airport at Badgerys Creek was followed days later by a NSW Government announcement that it would reserve a corridor to extend the South West Rail line. The proposal is for the South West Rail Corridor Extension (SWRC) to go north from Narellan to the western line near St Marys. A station is proposed to be built at Badgerys Ck.

This line would also connect to Leppington and the southern line.

The NSW Government has commenced community consultation about a preferred route and during this process community concern has risen and a community group Stop the Orbital and Rail Corridor Action Group (STORC) has formed to oppose a likely route that puts economic growth ahead of protecting the public interest.

STORC’s concerns stemmed from a Penrith Council submission to Transport for NSW (TfNSW) that urges they approve a route that connects new stations at a proposed Sydney Science Park to the UWS Werrington Campus. The Council map was overlayed on Google Earth and was shown to go through critically endangered bushland at the Defence Establishment Orchard Hills and also homes and properties in Orchard Hills. Orchard Hills residents were blindsided by Councils submission as they were not even aware TfNSW first 6 weeks of community consultation had been and gone.

Penrith Councils submission was written after meetings with TfNSW, UWS and other Councils. So it has provided the community with a lot of information of likely impacts.

From Councils submissions STORC learnt that the proposed Outer Sydney Orbital (OSO) was also imminent and that it would consist of an M9 motorway and an adjoined freight rail line.

A Penrith Council report of June 23 states TfNSW wants the SWRC and the OSO reserved as separate corridors. Council maps also showed the OSO and when overlayed on Google Earth going through the Defence Establishment Orchard Hills and homes. The impact of the OSO however is greater as it is proposed to run from South of Camden to the Central Coast. The Google Earth overlay in the Penrith Region shows it also runs through million dollar homes in The Vines Estate, through urban Claremont Meadows and Werrington, through the critically endangered bushland at the ADI Site (Wianamatta Regional Park that the community fought for over a decade to protect), through rural Llandilo and Berkshire Park and through million dollars homes at the Windsor Downs Estate.

So residents are up in arms about having an urban rail line, a freight rail line and a mega motorway through their communities and bushland.

Then when you drill down into the Penrith Council report you see these infrastructure items are to serve a proposed 24/7 Airport at Badgerys Creek and also the proposed Broader Western Sydney Employment Area (BWSEA). The BWSEA is a proposal to rezone 10,000 hectares of rural land to industrial. So 10,000 ha of green space are to be covered by factories and warehouses. Productive farmland gives way to a sea of cement and tarmac.

The BWSEA zone includes the Badgerys Ck Airport land in the south and runs all the way north to border onto the Orchard Hills Defence Establishment.

You drill down further into Penrith Councils report and you see advanced discussions have been had about the building of an intermodal facility west of the BWSEA. Council urges TfNSW when reserving the OSO corridor to reserve sufficient land for the new intermodal.

Add in Tony Abbott’s funding to widen Bringelly Rd, Elizabeth Dr and large parts of the Northern Rd to facilitate more car and truck use.

STORC therefore is very concerned that all these projects, in combination, becomes an infrastructure bomb that people, communities and the environment will never recover from. All these projects are being assessed and approved individually, in isolation to one another. Where’s the assessment of the cumulative impacts?

Penrith Council states that the NSW Government intends having the SWRC route locked in by the end of 2014. The NSW Govt in this financial year proposes to reserve the corridor for the OSO. So we have projects located parallel to one another for large stretches of their route being conducted and assessed and approved in isolation to one another. The approval of the SWRC will be used to justify approval of the OSO. Running these approvals together appears designed to fatigue the public so they just give up.

Of great concern is that the NSW Government can reserve these corridors and lock in the route through critically endangered bushland and people’s homes without the need to do an EIS. So once the land is acquired and community is out of the way and worn out the government then does its EIS and only has to exhibit it for 30 days. What a joke. And this could be 2 or 20 years down the track.

So STORC wants the clock stopped on the SWRC and OSO process. We want to know the impacts of these projects before the corridor is reserved. The NSW Government and Local Government should therefore carry out a thorough environmental and social assessment/study (separate to an EIS process) to determine the cumulative impacts of these projects. The NSW Government and Local Government should also call that the EIS for a Badgerys Creek Airport come first and that it include the impacts of the infrastructure projects STORC has mentioned as are all part of a Badgerys Ck Airport package.

The residents of outer Western Sydney deserve to know what the cumulative impacts are on them and the environment.

The impacts

1. Badgerys Creek Airport

• Federal Government proposal for a 24/7 International Airport

• No EIS

• No determined flight paths

• 24/7 air pollution, noise,

• polluted water catchments, planes over wilderness areas

• Traffic, trucks, trains

• Loss of critically endangered bushland

2. South West Rail

• Communities destroyed

• Compulsory acquisitions. Land values trashed

• 24/7 noise, loss of visual amenity

3. Outer Sydney Orbital

• Loss of critically endangered bushland

• Communities destroyed

• Compulsory acquisitions. Land values trashed

• 24/7 air pollution, noise, loss of visual amenity

• 24/7 trucks and freight trains

4. BWSEA

• Loss of critically endangered bushland

• Loss of thousands of hectares of Sydney’s rural land

• Loss of oxygen generating green space

• Zoned for industrial

• Trucks and car use massively increased

• 24/7 air pollution, noise, loss of visual amenity

• 24/7 trucks and freight trains

• Flooding impacts (permeable surfaces replaced by roofs, roads and concrete)

• Urban heat island effect increased

5. Intermodal west of the BSWEA

• 24/7 trucks and freight trains

• 24/7 air pollution, noise, loss of visual amenity

6. Road widening Elizabeth Dr, Bringelly and Northern Roads

• Facilitates more car and truck use

• 24/7 air pollution, noise, loss of visual amenity

Contacts

Geoff Brown 0431 222 602

Lauren Taylor 0479 166 140

Bruce Downes 0401 052 033