Kiama Council calls on NSW Government to lift the covenant
Published on 03 April 2025
Kiama Mayor Cameron McDonald has called upon the NSW Government to lift a 30-year old ban preventing Council from selling 5 lots of residential land in Glenbrook Drive, near Spring Creek, Kiama.
The covenant, imposed in 1991 due to the nearby Bombo Quarry activities, stops Council, or any future owner, from constructing any homes on these fully-serviced lots, which has a negative impact on Council improving its financial situation (as mandated by the NSW Government issued Performance Improvement Order) and prevents the construction of much-needed housing.
The five Council-owned residential lots in Glenbrook Drive have connections to power, water and sewerage. In the 30+ years since the covenant was issued, other homes in the street have been built around Council’s parcel of land, some of which are closer to the quarry.
“Australia is in the grip of a housing crisis and Kiama Municipality has been issued a NSW Government target to build 900 new homes by 2029, which we’re obliged to comply with,” said Mayor McDonald.
“Further, we’ve been ordered to improve our financial sustainability by the NSW Government. It makes no sense at all that we have five build-ready blocks here that we’re not able to utilise, preventing a number of family homes from being built and annual rates from being collected,” he said.
Kiama Council has written on numerous occasions to the NSW Government over the years requesting the covenant be lifted. In August 2022 Council received a letter from the previous NSW Government Minister for Regional Transport and Roads advising that he would not lift the covenant.
In November last year, Mayor McDonald and members of Council’s executive team met with the Hon. Jenny Aitchison, the current NSW Minister for Roads and Minister for Regional Transport, and repeated the request.
Mayor McDonald and Council CEO Jane Stroud also met personally with Minister for Planning and Public Spaces the Hon. Paul Scully in November last year to discuss the blocks in the context of the housing strategy. Several meetings have also been with our local Member for Kiama, Gareth Ward MP.
Ms Stroud also met recently with our local MLA the Hon. Dr Sarah Kaine, and raised the issue of the Glenbrook Drive lots and Council’s nearby Spring Creek land, both of which are subject to the restricted covenant, in more detail. These meetings are ongoing and it’s hoped that this issue will progress, and that common sense will prevail.
“It’s absurd that we’ve been issued a Performance Improvement Order by the NSW Government instructing us to improve our finances, and yet that same government is preventing us from doing just that,” Cr McDonald said.
“Times have changed, quarrying practices have changed. We are divesting surplus land where we can and we want to provide much-needed homes for families. We call on the NSW Government to lift this 30-year-old covenant so we can move forward and continue our journey towards financial sustainability,” said Cr McDonald.
Spring Creek land
There are two parcels of Council-owned land affected by the covenant.
1. Glenbrook Drive – 5x lots (2,772 sqm)
Lots: fully serviced, subdivided, approved and registered with NSW Land Registry Services.
2. Spring Creek – a parcel of Council-owned land with capacity to yield upwards of 90 lots (91,873sqm)
This is a parcel of residential-zoned land of approx 92,000sqm
The lot is a key component of the West Kiama Urban Expansion Area, as proposed by the draft Local Housing Strategy. This site has the potential to connect Bombo Quarry, a strategically identified regional growth precinct by the State’s Illawarra-Shoalhaven Regional Plan, with adjoining growth opportunities.