Westleigh Park project history and status

Westleigh Park, a 36-hectare parcel of land at 62 Quarter Sessions Road, Westleigh was purchased by Council in 2016 to assist with addressing the increasing demands for active recreation within the Shire.

In 2019, following the adoption of the Hornsby Sportsground Strategy in 2018 and subsequent receipt of funding from the NSW Government, Council began the process of developing a Master Plan for a new, regionally sized park at Westleigh to cater for the long-term recreational demand.

Council endorsed a revised draft Westleigh Park Master Plan (MP) and draft Westleigh Park Plan of Management (PoM) for public exhibition in March 2023. The exhibition ran from 13 March to 11 April 2023.

On 14 June 2023, Council adopted the revised draft Westleigh Park Master Plan and draft Westleigh Park Plan of Management. The Master Plan will play a key role in recreational provision for our Council and community.

See the adopted Westleigh Park Master Plan and Westleigh Park Plan of Management.

The adopted Westleigh Park Master Plan and Plan of Management propose structured sporting activities on three sporting platforms (providing up to six sportsfields) and unstructured passive recreation experiences throughout the Park, including:

• cycling and mountain biking
• walking paths
• informal exercise spaces
• children’s playground and picnic areas
• connections to local and regional bushwalking trails, and
• passive recreation spaces.

Future development of the site also includes the remediation of contaminated lands, management of items of cultural significance and the conservation and restoration of areas of environmental significance.

On 15 June 2023 a letter of consent was received from Sydney Water to confirm that the extension of Sefton Road could be considered in the Development Application.

Following adoption of the Master Plan and Plan of Management by Council, documentation for a Development Application for all stages of the Master Plan, including for mountain biking, was prepared and lodged on 25 September 2023 and referred to the Sydney North Planning Panel for assessment. Visit our website to view the associated documents - DA/975/2023.

The Development Application seeks to undertake development over two stages, with Stage 1 split further to accommodate the potential for differing delivery timeframes. Refer to the table on page 50 of the Council Business Paper for the division of work over two stages and the overview of the Staging Plan in Attachment 1 (Item 8) - 13 September 2023.

See Business Paper – Item 8: 13 September 2023

It is important to note that available funding is sufficient to construct Stage 1 only and further work will be undertaken as funds become available. Funding is available under a separate grant that will enable the work on the mountain bike trails to be undertaken. Our funding for Stage 1 is fully committed to ensuring we deliver stage one as planned and required by mid 2026.

Now that Council has obtained Owners Consent from Sydney Water and has lodged the Development Application, the project has entered a period of detail design to develop documentation that is suitable for tender for construction. This will occur concurrently with the assessment period and is estimated to be completed over a period of twelve months to conclude by the last quarter of 2024.

During April, May and June there was continuing engagement with Registered Aboriginal Parties to review and update their contribution to the detail design process and to acknowledge their aspirations for future engagement.

The Development Application is a very complex one. Development of the site involved a number of challenging constraints, including extensive contamination that required preparation and audit of a detailed Remedial Action Plan to comply with NSW statutory regulation, and the formal recognition of critically endangered vegetation communities and threatened flora and fauna species that identified a need to complete a self-referral to the Commonwealth Government.

The Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act self-referral commenced with an application to the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) in 2023. The DCCEEW assessment team visited the site early in 2024 and assessment concluded with a decision in early May of this year of “not controlled action”. This means that the proposed development does not require further assessment or approval under the EPBC Act.

Council has completed the preparation of documents that form the project team’s responses to the Development Application feedback, including submissions received from state government agencies, independent planners assessing our Development Application and members of the public following the public exhibition late last year. A recommendation will be prepared over the coming months by the independent planners assessing our Development Application and then issued to the local Planning Panel for their review and determination.