Bilpin District Community News Page

School children deny authoring Hawkesbury Place Plans Report, a crucial document Council intends to guide them in allocation of funding received from the State and Federal Governments.

The document was placed on public exhibition in May 2023 and received damning criticism from respondents for its inaccuracies and superficial description of future development of local villages leading people to comment that it looks like school kids wrote it.

This has raised the ire of local school kids who deny having any input into the document.

“It’s obvious we didn’t write it, kids wouldn’t make so many mistakes about our local community.”

“Everyone knows the Council cause lots of problems for people and we know to stay away from troublemakers. “

“You can tell kids didn’t have anything to do with it because they don’t list anything that would help make life better for us like better mobile reception and public transport to get places and stuff for kids to get together and do after school.”

“There is nothing for old people either. They want a local cemetery.”

“And we want adults to stop saying we wrote it. Adults need to take responsibility for their bad work.”

Concern about the Place Plan Report was also raised at the Bells Line Road Business Council networking meeting Q & A forum on 4 July with Hawkesbury Mayor Sarah McMahon, Robyn Preston MP, and Susan Templeman MP where serious “here and now problems” were raised, particularly the traffic congestion, parking and road crossing at Kurrajong Heights and Bilpin CBD’s.

Critical planning information missing from Place Plans Report.

Information usually found in planning reports designed by Local Government to direct future expenditure on physical and social infrastructure and is missing from Hawkesbury Place Plans Report. The missing information includes:

Demographics: This includes factors such as population size, age distribution, income levels, ethnic diversity, and educational background. Demographic data helps identify specific needs and preferences of different population groups in a place and is a key element in determining what current and future characteristic will be important to a particular place and it’s essential for ensuring the fair distribution of future government grants.
Infrastructure and Facilities: Assessing the existing infrastructure and facilities available in a place, such as transportation systems, utilities (water, electricity, sewage etc.), healthcare facilities, educational institutions, recreational spaces, and public services is not in the report. The report does not accurately show existing infrastructure or land use zoning. There is no analysis involving understanding the distribution of residential, commercial, farming, and public spaces and how this aligns with the community needs and goals, and consideration of possible adjustments or improvements to the place.
Health and Safety: Prioritizing the health and safety of community members has not been included in the place plans. Consideration of factors such as access to healthcare services, emergency response systems, crime rates, traffic safety, and disaster preparedness is not shown on the place plans.
Future Growth and Trends: Consideration of future population growth projections, economic trends, and technological advancements that may impact the community needs is not included in this document. So current and anticipated changes like the growth in agritourism are not included in the plan so sustainable growth, accommodating new industries, emerging technologies, and potential shifts in the community demographic makeup is not incorporated in our community place plans.
Community Engagement and Participation: The report states that information came from community forums held in August September 2022.
Identification of what community groups or individuals were present at the community forums providing information on the place plan is not provided. It is good practice to provide this information as it allows for review of who had input and who may have been underrepresented or not represented at these forums. The community can then see that a cross section of views were voiced. It is clear from the information in the Place Plan document that many voices from the Highlands were either not present or not heard at these meetings.
What can be done about this missing information?
You can ask our local elected Councillors to move a motion at a Council meeting requiring the General Manager to include this information in the Place Plan Report. Contact details for Councillors can be found at https://www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/your-council/councillors/councillor-profiles

For most of June and July there were 23 Road Works signs between Mt Wilson turnoff and Kurrajong Heights. These signs advised motorists of an array of possible hazards from stones being thrown up to drive at 80 kms and 60 kms simultaneously. For residents the road works signs are a source of increasing frustration and anger.

Road users are losing trust in the accuracy and relevance of road signage making the situation more dangerous with one saying, “When I see a Road Works sign, I think it indicates that repairs are needed to that part of the road, not that the repairs are actually being done.”

The state of Bells Line Road, for which the State Government is responsible, is a continuing topic of concern among Hawkesbury Highland residents and businesses.

While road work signs are essential for ensuring the safety of road works and drivers providing advance notice of potential hazards, when signs indicate road works and there are no actual construction activities taking place it can lead to potential harmful outcomes.

The most obvious is driver confusion which can lead to erratic driving – do I slow down or speed up – what is the speed limit. This increases the risk of accidents.

Non-resident drivers see the signs and in anticipation of road works slow down causing unnecessary congestion.
Commercial drivers are forced by fear of loss of licence points to stick to the 60 km speed limit increasing travel time, delivery schedules and costs.

According to Robyn Preston MP for Hawkesbury the owner of the signs are likely Ventia the company that holds the NSW road maintenance for Bells Line Road. She encouraged residents to contact this company with any concerns. The contact details are below.

Ventia
P: 1800 577 441
E: Info.parkland@ventia.com.au

According to NSW RFS Neighbourhood Safer Places (NSP) are a place of last resort during a bush fire emergency. You should be aware of any Neighbourhood Safer Places in your area and note them in your bush fire survival plan. You can use the RFS App to locate your nearest. https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/plan-and-prepare/neighbourhood-safer-places Alliance members first visited NSW Parliament in March 2022, presenting a detailed plan for the location of inground bore filled roadside water tanks and designated Neighbourhood Safer Places along Bells Line Road.

For Trish Doyle MP for Blue Mountains and Robyn Preston MP for Hawkesbury it made sense, and they supported the plan. With the support of Blue Mountains Council, roadside water tanks have been installed at Mt Tomah and the RFS sheds at Bell and Mt Tomah and now designated Neighbourhood Safer Places (NSP) as is Mt Wilson Hall. Blue Mountains now has 34 Neighbourhood Safer Places.
On 19 August 2022 Bilpin Bushfire Brigade Executive Committee invited the Alliance and Hawkesbury RFS HQ to a meeting at their fire shed where they outlined their opposition to Neighbourhood Safer Places claiming NSP’s encourage people to stay during bushfire disasters.
They also opposed roadside water as they considered there was sufficient water available from other sources. However, if roadside water tanks were to be installed then they would have one to be used only by the RFS or emergency services. The diagram shows the efficiency of roadside water storage for fire fighting compared to the use of Bulk Water Carrier trucks transporting water for roadside refilling of fire trucks.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/17/summer-bushfires-australia-bilpin-rural-fire-service-blue-mountains

Hawkesbury still lacks essential firefighting infrastructure.
After four years and $40 million in government disaster funding, Hawkesbury is still missing essential firefighting infrastructure as its first real fire season since the Black Summer of 2019 approaches.
On 15 December 2019 when the RFS Mt Wilson backburn escaped burning down homes at Mt Wilson, Mt Tomah, Berambing and Bilpin, RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons ordered NSW Fire Rescue out of Sydney and up the mountain to help.
At the time the Commissioner was unaware Bells Line of Road didn’t have roadside water hydrants where Fire Rescue Trucks could refill. The results were devastating for everyone. Residents watched as their homes burnt, surrounded by NSW Fire Rescue that couldn’t spray water on the fire because they couldn’t refill their trucks.
Members of Hawkesbury Blue Mountains Community Bushfire Alliance had a Skype meeting on 20 December 2021 with Resilience Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons in which he said he dispatched all available Fire Rescue crews when the RFS backburn escaped and he thought Bells Line Road had roadside water for their trucks to refill as Blue Mountains does. The Alliance say the Commissioner was shocked to find out this wasn’t so.
An application was made to the Commonwealth Disaster Ready Fund to install inground 120 litre concrete tanks filled by water bores to redress this problem. The government outsourced assessment of these projects to international consultancy agency GHD whose Senior Advisor read the application and concluded:
“I am left asking – Is there anything else could this money be spent on to protect the community? When I should be convinced this is the best option.”
This comment has raised concerns about the validity of the assessment process. No application for any project in the Hawkesbury received funding.
“The government needs to take a good look at the knowledge, skills and expertise of the consultants because anyone with basic knowledge of fire disaster mitigation knows the best way to protect a community is ready access to water, which is why streets in suburban Australia have roadside fire hydrants.”
Residents of Wilson Tomah, Berambing, East Bilpin and Kurrajong Heights, having survived the devastating Mt Wilson backburn fire got together and formed the Hawkesbury Blue Mountains Community Bushfire Alliance to lobby to improve firefighting infrastructure. You can contact them a hbcba@gmail.com

Click link to view article https://hawkesburypost.com.au/bells-line-of-road-aims-to-shine-as-premier-tourist-destination/