Residents are gearing up to stop the former Coalcliff Cokeworks from being turned into a residential estate, even though no plans to do so currently exist.
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With rumours swirling that development of the site is imminent, more than 80 residents of the northern suburb gathered at the town’s community hall on Wednesday night.
Their chief fear: that Illawarra Coke Company (ICC) is making moves to build houses on the old mine.
However, two of Wollongong council’s senior planners – who attended the meeting – said they had not yet been approached with a proposal to rezone the site or allow development of any kind.
Director of Planning Andrew Carfield told residents ICC would have to undergo a lengthy rezoning process – which would include various stages of consultation with residents – before they could consider building homes.
“Council officers have not been invited to any meetings with the landowner or their consultants, but we’ve been aware that there’s growing speculation in this community,” Mr Carfield said.
The council’s land use planner David Green said staff had pointed ICC to the standard NSW Government rezoning process – which could take up to two years – but had not received any proposal.
However, he said he would be “surprised if [the owners] didn't come in with at least some housing”.
“That’s only my speculation. I would expect that housing would be involved because that's the highest use that everyone wants and it’s worth the most.”
Coalcliff Community Association president Pat Goodchild, who called the meeting, said he was “certain” housing would be a part of the old mine’s future, while others said they had heard rumours of “stage one” plans for a housing development named “The Point”.
Mine owner Kate Strahorn was not invited to the community meeting, and was unable to be contacted by the Mercury on Thursday,
However, in March she said the company was “currently carrying out detailed investigations of the property to better understand the future potential of the site”.
At the end of the meeting, the residents vowed to fight any plan to build homes on the site, saying the risks of building on a mine site – which could be unstable or polluted with combustible coal wash – were too high.
The were also alarmed at the prospect that any new houses would put extra pressure on the tiny town’s already strained roads and drainage system.
The Coalcliff Cokeworks site
- The site is about 117 hectares in total.
- Most of the land is located in Maddens Plains, on the escarpment, and comes down to line up next to the homes in Coalcliff.
- This section is currently zoned E2 Environment Conservation, which is the council’s second-most restrictive zone.
- The site below the railway line is zoned RU1 zoning, which contains the old workings of the mine.
- The RU1 part of the site could have one house, as the zone allows one house on 40 hectares.
- There’s also one small residential sized lot on the site, which could have one house on it if it was subdivided.
- To be redeveloped, the site would need to be rezoned
- The owners would have to address issues such as land contamination, land slip, rock falls, traffic impact, visual impact, drainage, water supply, sewerage, electricity and heritage before rezoning could take place.
- The old cokeworks site and the escarpment are heritage listed.
Information provided by Wollongong City Council staff.
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
