UPDATED: $100m golf course relocation should be ‘immediately abandoned’
The NSW chapter of the National Trust has called for the immediate abandonment of plans to relocate the Kogarah Golf Course on to park land to make way for thousands of new apartments, describing the loss of public land as a “deplorable result” for the community.
The National Trust’s objection to the proposed golf course relocation was among a raft of written submissions opposing the massive redevelopment of the Cooks Cove precinct, the majority of which were authored by local residents and community groups.
In December last year, Cook Cove Inlet Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of John Boyd Properties, lodged a $100 million development application with the Bayside Council, reconstruct the 18-hole golf course on a 99-year lease across 52 hectares of parkland in the southern precinct of the Cooks Cove site.
The Trust’s NSW director of advocacy Graham Quint condemned the proposal as contingent upon the loss of publicly-accessible crown land, which he described as a “highly negative outcome for the community.”
Developers submit bid relocate the Kogarah Golf Course to the other side of the M5 motorway.
The proposal, estimated to cost $100 million, is being spearheaded by the privately owned Kogarah Golf Club, which has been wanting to relocate south for more than a decade in a bid to secure its future.
But after several thwarted planning attempts, the club is now closer than ever to securing the move, after its development partner, John Boyd Properties, submitted a development application to the new Bayside Council in mid-November.
The relocation of the golf course will pave the way for developers to transform the northern precinct, which has been identified by the Department of Planning as having potential for 5000 new homes, into a sprawling mixed-use development featuring a new FIFA-approved St George Stadium.While the proposal for the northern precinct is still in early planning stages, the golf course relocation has heightened concerns among local community groups about the broader long-term vision for the entire Cook Cove area.
Peter Munro from the Cooks River Valley Association said there were two key issues: the impact of development on local species, and the alienation of public land.
“It’s such a fragile area,” he said. “Botany Bay and its environs contain some of the most important natural but threatened sites on the NSW coast, made all the more remarkable by the fact that the Bay is one of the more developed landscapes in Sydney.
“Also once it becomes a golf course, there’s no broad community access. It’s closed to the public.”
The Kogarah Golf Club declined to speak with Fairfax Media, but in a report released to its members last year the club outlined the main motivation for the move.
“The most significant issue for the club remains a lack of security of tenure for the land comprising the golf course as we know it.”
Under the proposed arrangements for the new course, the club is seeking a 99-year lease of the land from the Bayside Council, rather than the mix of local and state government authorities they presently have to negotiate with.
In 2015, the course was reduced to 9 holes due to the construction of the new M5 twin tunnels as part of the WestConnex motorway project, and the fourth hole remains the site of a ventilation stack for the tunnels.
The club was also concerned about the lack of control it has over other parts of the course, which are owned by the Bayside Council, as well as land around the 6th green, 7th tee, 8th tee and 13th green, which it rents from Sydney Airport on a monthly basis.
