Hands off Memorial Avenue Reserve petition started

Peninsula residents concerned the green space off Memorial Avenue, Blackwall, will be sold by Central Coast Council have launched a petition requesting Lots 21 and 23 Memorial Avenue Blackwall be re-classified as Community Land.

14 June 2023

 

PENINSULAR residents are concerned that Council Administrator Rik Hart will sell off those lots, which are located between Warwick Street and Wallaby Street, and currently a public park, for housing development.

 

They were under threat when the Interim Administrator, Dick Persson, placed them on the Tranche 3 list of properties that the council wanted to sell off.

 

The site was subsequently removed from the  Tranche 3 sales list, but remains under threat as it is classified as Operation land, which Central Coast Council can sell without community consultation.

 

The reserve is heavily treed with endangered Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland (UCSW) and is the lowest point in Blackwall, so it is flood-prone.

 

Residents were keen to sign the petition at a Stop the Selloff community gathering held in Woy Woy on Saturday, 10 June, and many pages of the petition were quickly filled.

 

Not only does the site have large habitat trees, which include banksias, swamp mahoganies and blackbutts, it is also a listed Aboriginal site.

 

Residents wanting to sign the petition or requiring further information should contact the Facebook page Hands OFF The Reserve on Memorial Avenue Blackwall.

 

Local resident Jane Hendy said she was greatly concerned with the approach Central Coast Council has taken by disregarding its ‘responsibility of caring’ for the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland.

 

"The community will continue to fight for the reclassification to ensure the habitat is saved," she said.