Rally to STOP Woolworths in Newport, NSW

It’s now been a couple of months since we started the campaign to stop Woolworths from ruining the beautiful village of Newport.
Thank you very much for signing the petition. The numbers have now swelled to a staggering 2,000 plus, both on line and on paper but we do need more people power to beat the likes of Woolworths, so we’re holding a

Public Rally, on Sunday, 27 September at 10.30 am meeting outside the Surf Club.

Please tell everyone – relations, friends, man, woman and child, to come to the rally to make it clear we don’t want this ugly monstrosity in our village.

Now here’s the latest on the progress of the development by Woolworths.

The council has entered into an automatic agreement to sell the carparks to Woolworths if the two carparks are zoned commercial. Then it’s game set and match as Woolworths automatically become owners of the land and push through their DA with minor compromises designed to palm off residents.

Woolworths rezoning application is now with an independent consultant for assessment. With the application are Woolworths “indicative concept drawings” that are the justification for the rezoning of the council’s carparks.

An independent consultant is being used because the council has a financial stake in the rezoning deal and submissions via Pittwater Council to the consultant, SJD need to be made by 9 October 2009 (see details below).

So what are the main points everyone finds so abhorrent about Woolworths’ proposal?

A typical submission might read as follows: (please feel free to use this one if you want to)

“The Woolworths zoning application should be rejected. It will destroy the village of Newport for the following reasons:

1. This is a key site because it is the last off-mainroad opportunity for Newport to develop its village character.- with landscaping local shops and open areas as embodied in the letter and spirit of the Newport Master Plan, endorsed by residents and passed by council.

2. The Woolworths proposal would dominate the site in the crudest possible way. It covers the entire site, is extremely bulky, allows for no community use, is designed to funnel people only into Woolworths supermarket and will therefore be detrimental to local shops.

3. Newport has sufficient supermarket space with the opening of the 1600 sq mtre Coles supermarket.

4. Because of its size and layout, this development would result in excessive traffic congestion, noise and pollution in Foamcrest Ave and surrounding streets.

5. Because the site is bounded by local streets and the escarpment at the rear, a large number of residents would be affected by after hours noise.


6. Many residents look down on the site. Viewed from above, the above ground carparks will be ugly in the extreme. This plan allows for more parking than Newport needs. This type of crude development is no longer acceptable in modern urban planning.

Even if minor modifications were made to the Woolworths plan, the effects as described above would still apply. To rezone council carparks commercial at this stage would result in the broad concept Woolworths have put forward. Therefore this application should be rejected.

At a later time, after this application is rejected, a fresh approach to this site could be undertaken. Other financially viable concepts that embody the spirit of the Master Plan, allow for community access and enhance Newport as a village would be welcome. “


To make your submission, you need to fill out a form asking whether you have looked at the rezoning proposal. The application is on the council website at http://tinyurl.com/ovwtdm.


The form you need to fill out is attached as a PDF which can be easily printed out. It is essential we get our submissions in by 9 October - and the more the better.


It’s great that just about everyone in Newport is pulling together on this. We can beat them! Look forward to seeing you at the rally.


David Catchlove
Newport Versus Woolies Community Group
(nowoolies@gmail.com)