Issues & Events

In 2002, Belmont Golf Club teamed up with developer Terrace Tower with a proposal to build 200 houses in the middle of Belmont golf course, wedged between two 7(1) wetlands and within 50 metres of the ocean. To do this the club needed to get more land (adjacent to the course) from the RTA, Hunter Water and the Lake Macquarie city Council. They also needed adjacent land under Aboriginal land claim to the south of the course.

The Alliance took a close interest in preventing this development by lobbying the three authorities listed and by ensuring through the Lands Department that the Aboriginal land claim was not given special priority (a tactic by the developer via the NSW Premier's Department) and accelerated to fit the developer's timescale. Eventually, golf club members realised (again with the help of our lobbying) that their interests were not served by the developer's plans and voted against it. This particular development was averted.

The club still has approximately 8 Ha of land on its course zoned 2(2) so we need to keep a close eye on any future development proposals there. We also need to track the progress of the Aboriginal land claim to the south because building development here would adversely affect our proposed Lake Macquarie Coastal Wetlands Park.

If you are concerned about this issues, please write a letter about it, or join or support the Alliance.

Photograph by Teresa Nowak. Copyright ©2006. All rights reserved.