Residents living close to the canned Beaches Link say the State Government has left them with devalued properties and an uncertain future.
Despite the new Labor government putting the brakes on the seven-kilometre Beaches Link in June this year, affected local residents say they remain ‘in limbo’ and are demanding answers.
Transport for NSW acquired 26 of the 48 properties initially earmarked to be demolished for the planned motorway, but deprioritised the project in the State Budget 2022 when the government announced it would be indefinitely delayed or ‘put on ice’ due to cost blowouts and budgetary concerns.
This was in line with the NSW Upper House Parliamentary inquiry report released in December that the government had failed to adequately consider public transport options, stating a lack of transparency in planning and inadequate explanation of benefits and costs of the project.
‘The community has ultimately been sold a lie about the basis for the Beaches Link Tunnel.’ Nerissa Levy, Balgowlah Residents Group
Despite this, it continued the process of compulsory acquisitions of residents’ homes right up until March 24, the day before the State Election.
When Labor won, it placed the project ‘on hold’ in June, ceasing associated land acquisition and project development activities. Despite the condemnation, it currently sits in the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) as ‘under assessment,’ as it has been for the last 26 months since the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was submitted.
As a result, the community says it remains in limbo, with house prices plummeting and those who were forced to sell believe they were sold a lie.
John Gray, who planned to see out retirement with his wife in their three-bedroom home overlooking Balgowlah Golf Course in Dudley Street, Balgowlah, tells Peninsula Living: “Our biggest regret that still hangs over our head is that we were forced to sell.
Image credit: Google Maps.
Some residents of Dudley Street, located parallel to Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation, were forced to sell.
“I’m 74, my wife is 77, and we were given the choice in 2018 of ‘you can stay here and one day we can force you out in the future, with our house value utterly destroyed, or you can sell to us now under the terms of compulsory acquisition’.”
He claims the valuation was geared towards devaluing their home, saying: “We didn’t have much choice.”
They settled in 2021 but were forced to pay the (government) $900 a week for the privilege of staying in their home of seven years while renovating the property they bought in Belrose.
“Under the circumstances, I thought there would have been some sort of discretion,” he says. “Now, the tunnel project is still one hundred per cent still sitting there in the DPE – with a change of government, it would be back like a lightning bolt,” he says.
Balgowlah Residents Group spokesperson, Nerissa Levy, tells Peninsula Living: “We have been told many different stories on the status of the Beaches Link Tunnel, and the community continues to live in limbo.
“The Labor Government has been clear it will not build the tunnel, but nor has it been actively ‘scrapping’ or ‘cancelling’ the project as previously promised.
“Why the delay? Haven’t got around to it? Or do they want the tunnel as a bargaining chip to hold over voters in future?
“The community has ultimately been sold a lie about the basis for the Beaches Link.
“Impacted residents impacted have been left in limbo for too long – not just those who were under acquisition from the government, but hundreds more close to the footprint of the project.
“They have been under stress and unable to move, sell or plan life for five years since the project was first announced.
“Enough is enough.”
Philippa Cave, from Dudley Street in Balgowlah, is one such resident. The home of her parents, Janet and Harry Cave, was acquired by the Liberals the day before the election, after being ‘pushed into a corner’.
John Graham says Transport for NSW will continue to discuss next steps with residents ‘in good faith’.
Ms Cave’s home wasn’t acquired and because of the uncertainty of the project – and where it sits now – the value of her home has diminished.
“We have been in limbo for years,” she says. “If it had gone ahead or does in the future, it would mean a decade of loud machinery being within 10 metres from our boundary, with trucks and dust, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The outdoor area (would be) unusable and there’s a total loss of privacy.
“Now, because it’s on the backburner, people think the tunnel still might go ahead, so our market price hasn’t increased.
Northern Beaches residents turned up in droves for community meetings held for the tunnel.
“We had an appraisal from an agent and he said we’d get about $500,000 less than my parents received, which totally prices us out of the Sydney market.”
NSW Roads Minister John Graham says: “I understand that some people’s lives have been turned upside down as a direct result of the previous Coalition government’s approach to this project.
The proposed route of the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link
“Transport for NSW has begun reaching out to those people and families impacted and will continue to discuss next steps in good faith.”
Transport for NSW is now renting out the homes acquired for the motorway project and says it expects to retain ownership of the properties, but Greens MP and Curl Curl Councillor Kristyn Glanville, a solicitor practising in environment and planning law, says: “The Government should offer first right of reply to the people they bought their houses off.”
Previously, local MPs and councillors told residents on numerous occasions how the tunnel was catch-up infrastructure, would supercharge public transport and denied it would permit further development on the Northern Beaches.
However, on 26 June, Shadow Minister for Transport and Roads, Natalie Ward, told ABC Sydney, “On the Northern Beaches, we looked at building the Beaches Link Tunnel to provide that infrastructure so that we could have more denser housing in those areas.”
Residents are concerned about how planned increases in development and housing density through Frenchs Forest, Manly Vale, Brookvale will affect local roads. In Frenchs Forest alone, the Northern Beaches Council plans to put in an additional 5,360 houses to make the area a ‘strategic centre’. Traffic gridlocks will worsen unless there is a significant investment in public transport, already under siege with a lack of bus drivers and no train lines to provide options.
“It’s clear the Northern Beaches will need to grow in the next few decades, so it is critical that we plan public transport to serve more of us, or we will be left in perpetual traffic jams and car-mageddon,” adds Ms Levy.
The NSW Government is working with Northern Beaches Council and other stakeholders to deliver ‘best outcomes around local traffic impacts’. It recommends it will ensure ‘the results of environmental impact assessments at various Northern Beaches locations inform construction planning so that environmental impacts are minimised to the greatest extent possible’.