Magazine - Wollongong Recieves a Hostile Reaction to Giant Golf Resort

By Editor in Golf on 19th Apr 2008 6:00

The company behind the controversial Illawarra Ridge Golf Course has claimed the development will generate more than half a billion dollars over twenty  years, but it's not enough to allay the fears of residents who are concerned a remote piece of bushland will be overrun.

Plans for the proposal were released yesterday after years of being bounced between Wollongong City Council and the NSW Department of Planning. If successful, the 55ha slice of bushland landscape will be transformed into a nine-hole golf course supported by 100 hotel rooms, 100 serviced apartments and 200 short-stay accommodation villas.

The mammoth enterprise is one of the largest developments to be proposed in the northern Illawarra, leading to fears among residents that the area will be overrun with tourists. "It would appear there is going to be more accommodation in a remote area than in the centre of Wollongong," said local area convener Pauline Lacelles Smith. "It would compromise the natural value of the region and adjoining water catchment areas for Woronora Dam and the Hacking River Catchment."

The history of the location goes back to the 1980s when a Japanese investor, Harunori Takahashi, purchased the Illawarra Country Club, which still sits on the site. At present, the spot is owned by developer Links Living, which says the project will generate 851 jobs during the construction phase and 431 jobs after. Links Living has battled to get the project this far. In 2006, an embarrassing and acrimonious email exchange between the developer and the council revealed that the development was hitting substantial hurdles.

The issue almost boiled over into a court case, which was abandoned by Links after the project was taken out of the council's hands by the Department of Planning. Finally placed on exhibition yesterday, the development, which is aimed at the over-45 age group, is expected to generate half a billion dollars, an estimated $330 million of which will be tourist dollars over twenty years.

On its website, the developer claims the site will "seek to not place a strain on existing infrastructure" and says it will be serviced by its own sewage treatment plant. "The (proposal) is aimed at people in the local area, the wider community, domestic and international tourists," the site says. "The new golf resort will have a number of public benefits, including the retention of 60 per cent of the site as public open space."

For more information visit www.talkillawarragolf.com.au
Source: http://illawarra.yourguide.com.au/news

Read more articles in Golf, by Editor or from April 2008.