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Hornsby Shire Council has filed an application for its Westleigh Park sporting masterplan to meet the needs of the area’s rapidly expanding population.
The “regionally significant” development planned for a 36ha site has gone to the Sydney North Planning Panel after a draft masterplan was adopted by the council.
The current development application details the conversion of the site into a more “useable” parkland for the community, which is set to grow 14.8 per cent by 2032, according to ID Consulting.
The capital investment value of the project is $72 million and the council said that it will generate more visitors and “potential for permanent and ongoing growth”.
The project includes the construction of three sports field platforms, two natural turf and one synthetic turf, all with viewing areas' amenities buildings; playgrounds and picnic facilitiesl, as well as an internal road system.
The onsite Rural Fire Service training facility will be demolished to make way for the facilities to suit cricket, football, rugby and athletics, as well as mountain bike and walking trails.
The site fronts Quarter Sessions Road and Wareemba Avenue across Westleigh and Thornleigh. Hornsby Shire Council bought the site in 2016 from Sydney Water in response to “increasing demands for open space”.
The proposed development would facilitate the conservation of areas of First Nations cultural significance, including the relocation and conservation of a Scarred Tree in the northern portion of the site.
The development, however, is made trickier as a result of historical contaminating uses such as a night-soil depot and tarring plant, timber-pole making and treatment, as well as a municipal landfill site.
A staged construction of the site is expected to take eight years beginning in 2025.
About 30km from the Sydney CBD, Hornsby is the largest local government council in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan region by area.
It has been the focus in recent years of several major masterplans and developments such as the Hornsby Town Centre plan that aims to “revitalise and elevate” the area.
