Wollondilly Council is seeking early community and stakeholder feedback on a draft planning proposal which, if approved, would lead to the expansion of the existing Menangle Village.

Submitted to Council for consideration by Mulpha Australia Limited, the proposal outlines requested amendments to the Wollondilly Local Environmental Plan 2011 to enable the development of No. 65 Woodbridge Road, Menangle, known as Mount Taurus.  

Council has not considered or formed a view on the proposal.

The proposal is seeking to enable approximately 1,856 low and medium density houses in cluster in a rural setting and allow for new retail, commercial, educational and open space facilities.

For the development to go ahead, amendments would need to be made to the land use zone, the minimum lot size requirements for subdivision, the maximum building height and removing land from the Menangle Landscape Conservation Area.

Wollondilly Mayor Matt Gould said, “I’d like to make it clear that at this stage, Council officers have not assessed this proposal, nor has the elected Council considered or formed a view on the proposal.”

“This preliminary notification is about seeking important community feedback prior to the proposal being reported to Council.”

“We genuinely want to know what Wollondilly residents and business think about these amendments and I encourage everybody to have their say at this early stage of the process.”

“Initial advice from staff is that this proposal is not consistent with Council’s vision for Wollondilly, outlined in our Local Strategic Planning Statement Wollondilly 2040.”

According to historical records, Mount Taurus was named by Governor Hunter when he travelled to the area in 1795.

On climbing a hill to view the land, the Governor sighted a herd of wild cattle, the progeny of two bulls and four cows that had wandered off from Sydney Cove in May of 1788, and named the hill Mount Taurus and the area the ‘Cowpastures’.

Information on the draft planning proposal is available on Your Say Wollondilly, www.yoursay.wollondilly.nsw.gov.au

Written feedback is invited and will inform the assessment of the draft planning proposal to establish whether it has strategic planning merit.

This will include an assessment of whether the draft planning proposal is in line with the land use vision and priorities for the Shire set out in Wollondilly 2040, Council’s local strategic planning statement.

The closing date for submissions is 1 June 2022. The outcome of the early feedback will be reported to the Wollondilly Shire Local Planning Panel for advice before Council makes a decision.