A PICTURESQUE island in Hawkesbury River that once housed an asylum and later a facility for people with intellectual and mental disabilities, is being proposed by the News South Wales Government to be redeveloped into a tourist hub.
Situated off the coast of Mooney Mooney on the Hawkesbury River, Peat Island was established as an asylum for inebriates in 1911, before later becoming a psychiatric hospital for people with intellectual and mental disabilities.
The Island was decommissioned in 2010, with the last remaining patients moving to new facilities on the Central Coast.
Since 2014, several variations of a planning proposal have been lodged by different council groups, with the latest planning proposal being released to the public in September 2021, by Property & Development NSW. With the new proposal which seeks to rezone Peat Island and Mooney Mooney for new land uses garnering a negative response by local residents.
Brooklyn resident Peter Davis said the new development plan could affect the way people access the area.
“We’re concerned that the addition of I think 257 houses particularly on the Western side that is on the river frontage, will be not just an eye sore, but will open a can of worms for what would be development up along the foreshore,” he said.
“We’re really concerned that the development which will be high priced development, will stop access from the public, and privatise the foreshore, that means that people around the state can’t use that area.”
The 2021 development plan proposes almost 270 new houses, as well as the retention of nine unlisted historical buildings on the island and four on the mainland, to be restored and used for job opportunities and community facilities.
Around 10 hectares of space will be used for recreational facilities, and a further 10 hectares will be retained as a conservation area.
“I think one of the key issues is that, at the moment many in the community don’t mind the idea of some development on the Mooney site but they don’t want it on the riverside where the buildings are. It won’t solve any of the housing issues around Sydney because it will only be affordable by a few,” he said.
In a proposed submission form to the Central Coast Council in November 2021, The Hornsby Shire Council supported several aspects of the Peat Island Planning Proposal, including the retention of historical buildings and interpretation of the history of the site.
However, Hornsby Council has a number of concerns for the proposal, these include the exclusion of the Marina from the current Planning Proposal, with the council adding that the Marina should be a part of the current proposal to ensure integrated consideration of transport movement options between the road, waterway and railway.
Concern is also raised with the reliance of the Traffic and Transport Review on existing train and bus services, with Hornsby Council adding that The Traffic Review does not appropriately consider the effect that any increase in bus service frequency may have on the Brooklyn Town Centre, or on the accessible areas around the Hawkesbury River Station.