Save Link Road Forest
It’s Time to Act to Save Link Road Forest
Submissions are needed now to protect Link Road Forest!
Council has opened the Exhibition Period for the Local Strategic Planning Statement Update 2025 Submissions will close at 5.00 pm on Sunday 13th April 2025.
If the amendment is adopted, it will reclassify 147 hectares of high value biodiversity forest on the southern side of Link Road from Housing Release Area to Environmental and Open Space. This is a move in the right direction to save a section of the Link Road Forest.
Council has also resolved to write to the NSW Planning Secretary requesting that the Hunter Regional Plan be amended to enable 280 hectares of forest on the northern side of Link Road to be reclassified to Environmental and Open Space.
It is vitally important that as many people as possible make submissions supporting the proposed amendment to the LSPS. The developer of Link Road Forest will lobby hard to stop it.
Please make a submission and encourage others to do so too using the below link at Newcastle’s Have Your Say
We have put together some submission examples you can download. Alternatively you can use the information below in your own submission. Individual submissions are preferred.
The Newcastle Council report that recommended amending the Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS) states, “this land has high environmental value under the Hunter Regional Plan,” and “has key habitat for threatened species and populations.”
Preliminary ecological advice to the developer in 2020 identified 11 fauna species and 5 flora species listed under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
One of these faunal species, the large-eared pied bat, is listed as endangered.
One species of flora, scrub turpentine, is critically endangered.
Link Road Forest Campaign has recorded swift parrots that are listed as endangered in NSW and as critically endangered under the Commonwealth EPBC Act. Swift parrots were not identified on the site by the developer’s ecologist.
Koalas were not identified by the ecologist on the subject site. However, koalas were recorded in adjacent forest approximately 400 metres away, well within their range of travel. Furthermore, two koalas have been killed on roads in the area within the last 12 months and two have been found in people’s backyards.
The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act, 2016 requires that all key habitats for threatened species and biodiversity corridors are to be avoided and protected.
This forest is an important wildlife corridor from the lowlands to the hills of the Great Dividing Range.
SUBMISSIONS HERE! DUE BY 5.00 PM SUNDAY 13 APRIL 2025
SIGN THE PETITON
We need your support now more than ever! We must prevent this forest from being rezoned for residential development. We must advocate for smart urban planning that doesn't steal remaining native forests but instead respects them as essential parts of our environment.
Candidates for the Newcastle Council election were asked to commit to a pledge opposing further clearing of native forest for residential development due to its unacceptable impact on biodiversity and climate change. Eleven of the thirteen councillors elected, including the Lord Mayor, committed to the pledge. They are:
Independents - Ross Kerridge group – Lord Mayor Dr Ross Kerridge, Councillors Peter Gittens and Mark Brooker;
Labor – Councillors Declan Clause, Paige Johnson, Peta Winney-Baartz, Dr Elizabeth Adamczyk and Deahnna Richardson; and
The Greens – Councillors Charlotte McCabe, Joe Pringle and Sinead Francis-Coan.
You can read the pledge the eleven councillors have committed to here.
The two Liberal councillors did not respond to the pre-election request to commit to the pledge.
Link Road Forest is under immediate threat of being rezoned for residential development. Link Road Forest consists of 592 hectares overall encompassing GLENDALE to WALLSEND extending to MINMI with 72% in the City of Newcastle and 28% with the City of Lake Macquarie.
If the rezoning application is successful it will displace threatened species and impact connectivity from the Watagan Range for species along the coast, as this area is the last significant piece of bushland linking east Lake Macquarie and Newcastle's reserves providing a wildlife corridor now and for future climate change survival.
FIND HOW YOU CAN ACT TO SAVE LINK ROAD FOREST BELOW!
WHY SAVE LINK ROAD FOREST?
MANY ABORIGINAL SITES HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED IN THE AREA
Wildlife Corridors & Connectivity
This site provides connectivity from the Watagan Range for species along the coast.
Last significant piece of bushland linking east Lake Macquarie and Newcastle’s reserves.
Squirrel gliders inhabiting the Blackbutt Nature Reserve and the development site are currently connected through wildlife corridors running through Cardiff Heights.
Squirrel Gliders
(Iconic Species of Lake Macquarie/Newcastle Area)
It is estimated that the population extending across northern Central Coast and southern Lake Macquarie LGAs was the biggest in Australia (Smith 2000, cited in Economos R. & McDonald A. 2008).
Lake Macquarie City Council ecologists estimate that across Newcastle (Glenrock State Conservation Area, Tingira Heights Nature Reserves, Jesmond bushland, Blackbutt Reserve) the area of likely habitat is 1,767 ha, with a potential maximum population of possibly 300 - 600 Squirrel Gliders.
The Lake Macquarie Squirrel Glider Planning and Management Guidelines 2015 within the LGA, “any further loss of habitat or connectivity in the north-east population is expected to be significant ” and cites the significance of development impacts relate to loss of major habitat connectivity, and reduction in habitat fragments to sizes of less than 400 ha.
Fauna & Flora Impacts
Threatened species surveyed onsite in preliminary Biodiversity Impact Statement
(Anderson Environment and Planning)
Southern Myotis
Grey-headed Flying-fox
Powerful Owl
Slaty Red Gum
Squirrel Glider
Masked Owl
Netted Bottle Brush
Square-tailed Kite
Little Eagle
Glossy Black-Cockatoo
Little Bent-winged Bat
Large Bent-winged Bat
Small-flower Grevillea
Scrub Turpentine
Black-eyed Susan
Resources on the Rezoning
Newcastle City Council
NCC requested additional information after viewing the preliminary site assessment documents.
Nine Newcastle City Councillors signed a pledge prior to their election in December 2021 agreeing in principle against further land clearing.
Lake Macquarie City Council
View the Preliminary Site Assessment documents tabled at the Lake Macquarie City Council Ordinary Meeting of 24 May 2021 Select: Business papers, Document numbers: 21SP041.
E.g. Site Contamination, Traffic, Bushfire, Environment + more.Read response from LMCC Councillor
Barney Langford to Marion GilesRead response from LMCC Cr Adam Shultz and Senior Strategic Planner to Marilyn Hind
News & Media
ACT NOW TO SAVE LINK ROAD FOREST
ACT NOW TO SAVE LINK ROAD FOREST
Add your contact details to receive notice of opportunities to take action, learn more & connect with the SLRF campaign:
Distribute flyers
Distribute it to friends and family by printing or emailing to raise awareness.
Contact coordinator@hcec.org.au to request printed copies
Associated Groups
Communities for Sustainable Development
Hunter Community Environment Centre