10 JUNE 2017 Manly Daily by Robbie Patterson and Kathryn Welling 156 HOMES SITE COULD BE FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING - BANKING ON BELROSE - LANDOWNERS hoping to subdivide Belrose bushland into 156 housing lots have hit back at critics, saying they would consider affordable housing and a solution to the peninsula’s field shortage. Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council chief executive Nathan Moran said its latest plans catered better to native flora and fauna and included residents paying a bushfire protection levy. He said the organisation was “certainly open to affordable housing” on the Ralston Ave site and “happy to hear suggestions, recommendations and feedback.” Last week the Manly Daily revealed the development, which was nixed by Warringah Council in 2013, was back on the agenda. A proposed development by the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council in Belrose. Former mayor Michael Regan and Mackellar federal Liberal MP Jason Falinski expressed concerns over the loss of bushland and the lack of affordable housing. But Mr Moran said they had 1000 land claims on the peninsula and the development, known as North Belrose Residential, would equal just 0.06 per cent of their land. He said the land council — the largest landowner on the peninsula — would be prepared to turn some of its other holdings into sports fields to help fill a shortage. Mr Moran said they have level sites that could be developed into ovals and fields, and would be happy to negotiate with the Northern Beaches Council. He revealed the land held no cultural significance, saying Aboriginal people were free to claim crown land that was non-essential to public use under the Aboriginal land rights Act. “Where land is of cultural or environmental value we fight lock stock and barrel to maintain it,” he said. The proceeds of selling the freehold housing lots would go into a trust fund to help the 16,000 Aboriginal people in the council’s area with affordable housing and funeral costs for years to come. A proposed development by the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council in Belrose. “The value of this land allows us to fund our business in perpetuity,” he said. “It is a smarter way of using our land.” A second access road would be created from the site joining to Wyatt Ave. A track around the entire 136ha Belrose site would be built, allowing people to cycle, walk or ride horses. Housing would make up less than 13 per cent of the site, which includes a 3000sq m public park. “We have minimised and reduced the lot numbers (from 172) and increased size (by 50sq m) to protect the most valuable part of this land, which is Duffys Forest,” he said. “We had Eco Logical Australia do the assessment. They identified the native species and, as a result, we amended our plan and took away the lots originally intended to be built there. I don’t think we are given enough credence for that.” Mr Moran said he was “very saddened” that despite council staff recommending the development years ago, councillors voted against it. “I am still very gutted as to why we didn’t follow science or reason and why populism stopped us from developing,” he said. He also took aim at what he believed to be unfair treatment of the project. “I would hope that one day we could have equal treatment such as what is occurring at Ingleside,” he said. “I am hearing no concerns about catastrophic bushfires ... How could you approve 3000 houses on the other side of Garigal National Park to our development with less concerns? I find that inequitable at best.” Download the Article
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