Real Estate
27 July, 2026
Bowral South: Too many unanswered questions
Residents fear there are too many questions relating to the proposed Bowral South New Living Area (NLA) that remain unanswered for Wingecarribee Shire Council to be pushing ahead with it so quickly – or at such an enormous cost to ratepayers.
Residents fear there are too many questions relating to the proposed Bowral South New Living Area (NLA) that remain unanswered for Wingecarribee Shire Council to be pushing ahead with it so quickly – or at such an enormous cost to ratepayers.
The controversial plan to build more than 2000 new homes on a floodplain in Burradoo was the main topic of discussion at last Wednesday night’s meeting of the Southern Highlands Community Forum.
Mr Barry Anstee, who sits on council’s Floodplain Risk Advisory Committee, said he had never seen a council so determined to push something through.
“We need to get to the bottom of it,” Mr Anstee said.
“Who’s driving this and why? It’s bizarre.”
Speakers on the night included Member for Wollondilly Judy Hannan, John Barrett from Friends of Bowral and Paddy Moylan.
Mrs Hannan has been a vocal critic of the Bowral South NLA and recently used a Private Member’s Statement in Parliament to call for all planning work on the development to be stopped.
Speaking last Wednesday night, Mrs Hannan said she was not opposed to development and acknowledged the region needed new homes.
However, she said those homes needed to be “sensible, viable and properly planned”.
Mrs Hannan said there were six release areas listed in council’s housing strategy but it was choosing to only focus on one.
She said council had demonstrated a lack of willingness to openly share any facts or information relating to Bowral South.
Mrs Hannan believes that at least $750,000 has already been spent progressing the proposal and called for greater transparency in relation to costs.
She said the cost of studies and investigations should be pushed back onto the owners of the land and not onto ratepayers.
Mr Barrett said council was pushing ahead with the proposal despite flooding concerns.
He said there was a “red flag” over the proposal from the start - but council approved its housing strategy and exhibited the Bowral South masterplan regardless.
He said a number of “very experienced groups” had looked over the plans for Bowral South and had expressed concern about the proposal given the flooding risk.
Mr Barrett said the latest Flood Plain Impact and Risk Assessment (FIRA) prepared by Maker Consulting Services referenced feedback from NSW Government agencies but said nothing about compliance.
He believes council should provide written confirmation that the FIRA meets State Government requirements and that the proposed Bowral South NLA is “fully compliant” with flood management criteria.
Without it, he said, council had wasted close to $1 million.
“It’s an extraordinary amount of money that has been spent on reports that we know that the State Government is having issue with,” Mr Barrett said.
Paddy Moylan an advocate against the Bowral South plan, said there was “nothing positive” about the Bowral South NLA proposal.
His message to council was simple: “If you vote for this you will ruin Bowral and you will break the Highlands’ heart”.
Mr Moylan encouraged residents to look to the future and to focus on a vision for 2043.
He said that vision could include a new town that leaves the shire’s existing towns and villages intact with plenty of green space in between.
Mr Moylan said residents were sick of bad development.
“Let’s stop it and focus on what we want the Shire to look like in 2043,” he said.
He warned councillors that if they didn’t cancel the Bowral South proposal, their own elected positions would potentially be cancelled come election time.
“Let’s stop the nonsense,” he said.
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