Quality of Life Mayoral Reference Group meets for first time

Blue Mountains City Council’s Quality of Life Mayoral Reference Group met for the first time this week.

An initiative of the Mayor, the group will meet regularly to consider environmental and liveability impacts from the proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam wall and the Western Sydney Airport that will subject residents of the Blue Mountains to aircraft noise day and night.

Mayor Mark Greenhill said: “Make no mistake, our quality of life in the Blue Mountains is under attack by the policies of the state and federal governments.”

Blue Mountains City Council and Wollondilly Shire Council will form an alliance to jointly advocate concerns and opposition to the proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam wall.

The terms of reference of Council’s Western Sydney Airport Mayoral Reference Group were expanded (and the group renamed) earlier this year, to allow it to consider the impacts of the proposed raising of the dam wall.

The group will launch a joint campaign that will likely be held in Springwood.

“We see a state government that is looking at raising the wall of Warragamba Dam in a way that enables more development on the flood plain at the expense of flooding wild rivers throughout the National Park, including places like Kedumba behind Wentworth Falls.

“Many people think this will only affect low-lying areas, but this is not true. Even places in the upper mountains that are iconic will be impacted.

“So bad is the proposal that UNESCO has indicated World Heritage listing may be compromised. If that happens we will see both the destruction of our environment and the loss of local jobs because World Heritage Listing is part of our tourism brand.

“We are going to campaign against this, and our council is united with Wollondilly, in fighting what the state government is proposing.”

The new Mayoral reference group aims to advise council on the best way to defend the Blue Mountains from policies at the state and federal level that will impact the quality of life of residents.

“We have also determined to release, in the coming weeks, the group’s view of the flight plan impacts of Western Sydney Airport on the Blue Mountains,” Cr Greenhill said. 

“We believe they will be shocking and if the federal government disagrees, the answer is simple – release your flight paths now so we can have a look at them. 

“The federal government has commenced work onsite despite not releasing flight paths. The last time a draft flight path was released it saw planes merging above Blaxland as low as four thousand feet, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.”

“Sydney is also being swamped by overdevelopment that stretches all the way to the foot of the mountains. These state and federal government proposals see the quality of life of every resident in the Blue Mountains impacted.”

Pic: (Front row, left to right) Cr Chris van der Kley, Deputy Mayor of Wollondilly Matt Gould, Mayor Mark Greenhill, Nyree Fisher, Harry Burkitt, Colong Foundation.(Back row, left to right) Don Carter, Lisa Jeffrey, Cr Hollywood, Peter Dollin, Anton von Schulenberg, Cr Don McGregor, Cr Daniel Myles, Ross Coster and Mary Court at the first Quality of Life Mayoral Reference Group meeting held on 24 July, 2019.