News
18 May, 2026
Over my dead body: MP vows to continue cemetery fight
Member for Wollondilly Judy Hannan remains vehement in her opposition to a proposed cemetery at Douglas Park which is currently being advertised as a State Significant Development.
Member for Wollondilly Judy Hannan remains vehement in her opposition to a proposed cemetery at Douglas Park which is currently being advertised as a State Significant Development.
Wollondilly residents have taken to social media to voice their concerns over the proposal with one user on the Reject Douglas Park Cemetery Facebook page describing it as “ridiculous”.
One of the concerns is that the fluids from decomposing bodies will leach into the Nepean River.
Mrs Hannan confirmed today (Sunday) that her position on the cemetery hadn’t changed.
“It’s not the right place at all,” she said.
Documents relating to Stage 1 of the proposed Douglas Park Memorial Park are on exhibition until June 9 and can be viewed at www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects
Opponents are hoping to generate enough submissions for the matter to be referred to the Independent Planning Commission – although the Federal Government is now also involved because of potential impacts on threatened species and communities.
The applicant Benima Pty Ltd is seeking concept development for the staged development of a cemetery at 430-490 Douglas Park Drive with the capacity for more than 37,000 burial lots and detailed development consent for the first stage of works.
The first stage will have the capacity for almost 15,000 burial plots on the southern portion of the site.
First stage works will include site preparation (demolition, vegetation removal and ‘bulk excavation’), construction of a chapel, administration building (including café and flower shop) and caretake/storage building, construction of an internal road and pedestrian network, carparking, ancillary works including stormwater and other services, site landscaping, lighting and signage.
It is intended the cemetery will eventually include a crematorium.
A Summary Report – one of the documents currently on exhibition – says the proposed development has been “designed to respect the site’s natural landscape and cultural context”.
“It offers a high-quality, non-denominational cemetery that also functions as a public park, unlocking a site for public use which is currently private,” the report says.
“The proposal addresses urgent capacity needs while providing long-term community benefit.”
One of the key issues moving forward is likely to be traffic.
According to the Summary Report, the proposed development “will not adversely impact the performance of surrounding intersections, which are expected to continue operating at their current levels of service”.
“While most intersections are anticipated to experience minor increases in both the degree of saturation and intersection delay, these changes are considered negligible and are not expected to result in any significant traffic impacts.”
Opponents beg to differ.
They say the developer is aiming for large, multi-faith funeral services of up to 200-300 people drawn from as far away as Lakemba and Parramatta.
They say navigation apps will take them ‘over the gorge’ (Douglas Park Drive) as the fastest route and will cause it to ‘shut down’.
Mrs Hannan told The Southern Wire that she would definitely be making a submission.
In a Private Members Statement to Parliament on June 24 last year, Mrs Hannan said development of the site for 37,000 burial lots and a crematorium was not worth the risk “to the environment, the residents and the visitors who would risk their lives driving to visit loved ones”.
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 – perhaps 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”.
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