The one-time mining site, now owned by HTT Huntley Heritage, has been the subject of several applications in the past decade to have the site readied for the building of a state-of-the-art golf course, clubhouse, teaching facility and stay-and-play lodges, surrounded by low-density rural housing.

The 18-hole golf course, designed by Greg Norman, is already under construction in the centre of the site following approval from authorities in 2011, however, HTT Huntley has recently lodged another application seeking to advance the first stage of the housing plans.

In a report to Wollongong City Council, planning consultants Urbis proposes to subdivide three sections of land north of Avondale Road (which is already broadly zoned for housing) into 156 individual lots to make way for building works to begin.

The lot sizes will vary from 300sqm to 450sqm, as approved under the council’s development control plan for the area.

As part of the rezoning works, HTT Huntley will also realign and widen Avondale Road, upgrade and widen Cleveland Road and the Mullet Creek Bridge, construct a new access bridge and road near Cleveland Road, build a privately owned on-site sewerage system and carry out extensive landscaping around the new housing projects.

A portion of land will be set aside as a community park for residents, while another piece of land already in use as a Rotary park will remain intact and for use by the organisation, the report said.

This application is the latest in a long list of applications to determine the future use of the Huntley Colliery land, which operated as a mine between 1946 and 1989, when it was shut down by its then owners, the Electricity Commission of NSW, due to a downturn in demand for electricity from the nearby Tallawarra Power station.

The 480-hectare site was purchased by HTT Huntley business partners Ken Tugrul, Robert Renshall and Chris Frederick in 2001, with initial plans seeking approval to develop large parcels of land into housing lots.

However, NSW Planning rejected plans for the more extensive development in 2006, forcing HTT Huntley back to the drawing board. The company presented a scaled-back set of plans in 2009 reducing the number of houses and scope of the works to be carried out.

A plan to rezone 178ha of land, some of which is environmentally sensitive, was passed at the December 2011 council meeting, paving the way for construction to begin on the golf course.

Greg Norman flew to Australia in early 2013 to meet with the owners and inspect progress on the first two holes of the course.