News the Hills Shire Council is seeking approval to bulldoze sensitive bushland and ‘offset’ it under the State Government’s controversial biobanking scheme highlights the urgent need for a greater scrutiny of the whole process, say the NSW Greens.
"Biobanking is increasingly being exposed as a rort, designed purely to approve controversial developments in environmentally sensitive areas,” NSW Greens MLC Ian Cohen said today.
Leaked information indicates the Hills Shire Council will apply to itself, as the consent authority, to develop a piece of land it owns at Withers Road, Kellyville. The land is said to contain bushland with numerous threatened species, including Cumberland Plain Woodland, federally listed as ‘at immediate risk of extinction’.
"The environmental consultant’s report I have seen indicates there are almost certainly enough threatened species on this site to raise a 'red flag' under biobanking.
“A red flag means the loss of biodiversity can't be ‘offset’ because its conservation value is too high and therefore the development can't go ahead.
“What is happening is exactly what we were afraid of. Developers are using all sorts of spurious means to avoid these ‘red flags’.
“Some developers are deliberately engaging particular environmental consultants who may be more likely to downplay the presence of threatened species in their environmental assessments of a site.
“An accreditation system needs to be urgently introduced to ensure all environmental consultants are thoroughly qualified and independent.
“Biobanking is a rort that lets developers get away with destroying threatened species. It’s as simple as that,” said Mr Cohen.
Further Information: Cate Faehrmann 0412 207 043
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