News
2 June, 2026
Council wants feedback on Douglas Park cemetery proposal
Wollondilly Shire Council will hold a community drop session this week on the controversial Douglas Park cemetery proposal and residents are being encouraged to get along and share their feedback.
Wollondilly Shire Council will hold a community drop session this week on the controversial Douglas Park cemetery proposal and residents are being encouraged to get along and share their feedback.
The session will be held at the Douglas Park Community Hall, 195 Camden Road, between 4pm and 6pm on Wednesday (June 3).
The NSW Government is currently accepting submissions on the State Significant Development Application (SSDA) for Douglas Park Memorial Park – Concept Plan and Stage 1 via the NSW Government Planning Portal.
Council will be formally opposing the proposal but would like to include as much community feedback as possible in the ‘community sentiment’ section of its submission.
Staff will be on hand to listed to residents and to summarise their feedback.
The SSDA seeks approval for a Concept Masterplan for use and operation of a cemetery with a maximum, staged capacity of up to 37,107 burial plots including a crematorium and chapel, vaults, remembrance sanctuaries, general site layout and all associated groundworks, roads, pathways, landscaping and ancillary buildings at 430-490 Douglas Park Drive.
Member for Wollondilly Judy Hannan has also been very vocal in her opposition to the proposal.
In 2024 she said: “Residents do not have the luxury of indulging in marketing fantasy but must face the reality of sustained and insufferable gouging of sandstone to enable rock crypts; gushing and potentially contaminated overflows through their homes on route to the river behind them; reeking plumes – potentially carcinogenic – from a crematorium and long processions of hundreds of visitors daily, with two out of three access routes involving travel over winding one-way river causes”.
In a Private Members Statement to Parliament on June 24 last year, Mrs Hannan said development of the site for 37,000 burial lots was not worth the risk “to the environment, the residents and the visitors who would risk their lives driving to visit loves ones”.
Resident Sam Davis – who is encouraging people to attend Wednesday’s session – said there was no need for a commercial scale cemetery/crematorium in Wollondilly “and no need for further burial space in SW Sydney”.
“This is quite apart from the fact the site is totally inappropriate in terms of its geology and location.”
Applicant Benima Pty Ltd says the proposal will deliver a high-quality, non-denominational cemetery that also functions as public park, unlocking a site for public use which is currently private.
“The proposal addresses urgent capacity needs while providing long-term community benefit.” Documents relating to the proposal can be viewed at www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects
Council will hold an extraordinary meeting on June 16 to endorse its draft submission on the cemetery proposal.
--------------
The Southern Wire Newsletter is now here! Subscribe for free at the link below.
https://subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com/1986abc6-c89e-4781-9db2-cf35c9dd71e4
If you value independent local journalism across the Highlands, Tablelands and Wollondilly, please click the link below to support us as we are paywall free.
Read More: Wollondilly, Douglas Park