Lindfield Heights: remedied or risky?

What does the future hold for Lindfield Heights?

The impending auction of a large slice of West Lindfield into residential lots this month has raised questions about the site’s history and environmental integrity, the general area having reportedly served as a casual dumping ground for fibro containing asbestos as well as other industrial waste.

Bradfield Park is bordered by Lady Game Drive, Moore Avenue and Bradfield Road opposite West Lindfield shops, and is being sold off by the nearby Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Measurements Laboratory (CSIRO), having previously been used as a World War II army barracks and a post-war migrant hostel.

The development is called ‘Lindfield Heights’ and will consist of 29 separate residential parcels each measuring between 900m² and 1500m².
A nearby resident who shares a long history with the progress of the site and who doesn’t wish to be named says that the area has suffered from bad management, and that the recent process taken to remedy the soil pollution was insufficient, smacking of bureaucratic immorality.
“The site was community-owned, then the federal government resumed the land and they bulldozed all the old army huts, which were made of asbestos, into the ground; and they used the land to dispose of toxic waste from time to time,” he says.
“The remediation went to a depth of between one and two feet and in hot spots it went to a depth of about one metre; what’s between those spots isn’t known.
“Still, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) certified that the soil was free of dangerous matter - there has been a lack of ethics on all levels of government, from local to federal, in the evolution of this site,” he says.
However, the investigation of these claims has so far produced no evidence that the building site might be hostile to inhabitants.
Olivia Greentree from the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), which has since absorbed the EPA, says that the claims are misguided and that the site has been completely resurrected.
“DEC does not believe the site was ever contaminated in such a way as to pose a significant risk of harm to the environment or human health.
“All buried fill materials that contained asbestos have been excavated and disposed of to a landfill. The site has been remediated to a standard that allows unconditional residential use. This is certified by an independent auditor,” she says.
That independent audit registered that the thousands of tonnes of earth relocated in the remediation contained all the chemicals (previously estimated to include copper, lead, chrysotile asbestos and chromium) that were there
to take.
The CSIRO West Lindfield’s Terry Biscoe says that the CSIRO arranged the clean up of the site and in doing so appeased all parties, remediating the site adequately for development and ultimately conducting the affair legitimately.
“The organisation that was contracted to do the remediation has issued certification that the site is clean and asbestos-free. From CSIRO’s perspective that site has been remediated to the highest level,” he says.
“The whole process of rezoning the land has taken over 13 years. It has been in consultation with council, the state government and local resident groups. The DA [development application] was approved by council in May 2004; you simply can’t steamroll developments anymore.
“There is nothing to hide, everything is totally transparent,” he says.
Nevertheless, incoming residents may not be aware of the dubious history of the site and may get caught out if they want to do any major landscape alterations, says our source.
“The land was contaminated before it was remediated and whether it was remediated to an acceptable standard, that’s the issue. If I were buying there I would want to know that if I planned to dig below a depth of one metre I would need an excavation report,” he says.
Ku-ring-gai Council declined to comment on this point, but a spokesperson did admit, “Council is aware that there are some residential sites (properties bounded by Bradfield Road and Edmund Street) that have been found to have trace levels of asbestos.

“These properties had been tested during the late 1990’s and owners had been notified of the issue at that time. Property planning certificates were also updated to reflect this new information,” he says.