Thank you very much for signing our petition rejecting the Powderworks-Wilga-Wilson medium density rezoning in Ingleside/Elanora Heights (PEX2025/0001) .
The Council is scheduled to make a decision on the rezoning at their 17 Feb meeting.
To underscore the over 700 submissions and 1500 petition signatures, we are requesting that as many residents as possible email Councillors, urging them to reject this proposal.
Please take a few minutes to email this letter below to NB Councillors before 13 Feb. I have included a list of Councillors' email addresses as well.
Personal emails from residents do matter — especially at this stage. There will be no opportunity for residents to speak at or before this Council meeting, which makes these emails doubly important.
You can personalise the first and last lines and any other part of the text, but even sending it as-is makes a difference.
Thank you in advance for your time and efforts.
___________________________________________________________________________________
SUBJECT LINE
PEX2025/0001 – Request to reject Powderworks-Wilga–Wilson rezoning on safety grounds
RESIDENT LETTER TEMPLATE
Dear Councillor xxx,
I am a local resident of [Insert suburb], writing ahead of the Council meeting scheduled for 17 February, regarding the proposed Powderworks-Wilga–Wilson medium density rezoning (PEX2025/0001).
I ask that you reject this proposal on the basis that the key safety and infrastructure risks that caused the former Ingleside Place Strategy to be abandoned in 2022, remain unresolved.
In particular, I am deeply concerned about bushfire risk to this area, and fire evacuation safety. This pocket of Ingleside relies on Powderworks Road as a single evacuation route, and there has been no publicly demonstrated, independently reviewed modelling to show that mass evacuation would be possible under worst-case fire conditions. Recent extreme heat and bushfire events in NSW and Victoria only reinforce the reality of this risk.
I am also concerned that the proposal remains highly car-dependent, with no committed, meaningful upgrades to local roads or in particular, to public transport. Concentrating hundreds of new dwellings — including apartment buildings potentially up to eight storeys — in an isolated, bush-adjacent area is inconsistent with the NSW Government’s stated principle of locating medium density housing in safe, well-serviced locations close to public transport. Premier Minns has said the State Government’s housing reforms are about “the right development in the right places, with the right outcomes for the community.” He has gone on to say, “These changes are designed to build more homes, in the right places, close to transport and other amenities.”
I am not opposed to new housing, but I strongly believe it must be safely and appropriately located for new and existing residents, and supported by adequate infrastructure. Based on the information available, this recent rezoning proposal fails the test.
I respectfully ask you to apply the same safety and viability standards that led to the 2022 decision, and to put local residents and community safety first.
Kind regards,
[Insert full name]
[Insert street or suburb]
Email addresses
Manly Ward
Candy.Bingham@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Sarah.Grattan@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Bonnie.Harvey@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Curl Curl Ward
Joeline.Hackman@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Nicholas.Beaugeard@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Kristyn.Glanville@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Narrabeen Ward
Vincent.DeLuca@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Robert.Giltinan@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Ruth.Robins@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Frenchs Forest Ward
Sue.Heins@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Ethan.Hrnjak@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Jody.Williams@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Pittwater Ward
Rowie.Dillon@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Miranda.Korzy@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Mandeep.Singh@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au