An apology

Published: 28 May 2022 at 8:48 am

To the western Sydney community,

I am writing to the community on behalf of Western Sydney Parklands Trust (WSPT) to advise of and acknowledge a failure in our project administration and management processes in relation to the development of the Eastern Creek Business Hub (Stage 1), which has resulted in four conditions of the Environment, Protection and Biodiversity and Conservation Approval no. 2012/6617 being contravened.

The Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment (DAWE) has issued WSPT with formal warnings for breaches of conditions 3 and 7, and Infringement Notices for condition 5 and 9 (Infringement Notices No. ECBC21/058 and ECBC21/059), which has resulted in a fine of $26,640 and public notification on the Department’s Infringement Notice Register.

WSPT takes environmental management and protection seriously. We can confirm these four breaches were administrative in nature and there was no change to our approved plans for environmental offsets.

The Trust held an honest and reasonable belief that the development was meeting all necessary compliance obligations at a Federal and State level as all NSW Government approval conditions were met.

Following an internal review, WSPT has taken appropriate action to address its compliance processes to ensure this never happens again.

Eastern Creek Business Hub has been created in accordance with Western Sydney Parklands’ Plan of Management 2030 which identifies a strategy to use two per cent of the Parklands’ estate for business hubs which will create a long-term income stream to support the care, control and management of the Parklands and at the same time create new jobs and investment in Western Sydney.  This includes the creation more than 4000 full time jobs, plus restoration of 1000 hectares of Cumberland Plain Woodland within the parklands and the expansion of this corridor by a further 1000 hectares. Bushland corridors and biodiversity habitat will constitute 40% of the Western Sydney Parklands corridor protected over the long term.

Thank you for your interest in this matter as we work towards creating a sustainable future for Western Sydney Parklands and for the current and future generations who enjoy our parklands.

 

Sincerely,

Suellen Fitzgerald

Chief Executive, Greater Sydney Parklands