An $8 billion investment fund has threatened to divest from Lendlease, calling for the developer to be transparent about the ability of a vulnerable koala colony south-west of Sydney to coexist with a new housing development.
The NSW government is seeking public consultation on stage two of the Figtree Hill development at Gilead, which plans to introduce 4,000 new homes to the region.
In 2020 then-NSW environment minister Matt Kean told Lendlease he would not sign off on the project unless it complied with the NSW chief scientist's advice on protecting one of the state's last healthy koala colonies.
Australian Ethical said the latest planning documents failed to make it clear that advice was being followed.
"What we are really concerned about is a lack of transparency," ethical stewardship lead Amanda Richman said.
"We think it is not a transparent, it is not a fair consultation, and our position is if Lendlease proceeded with the development anyway we would have to divest."
Koala corridors a point of contention
One of the chief scientist's main recommendations was to preserve koalas' ability to travel across the landscape by mandating koala corridors of an average minimum width of 390 metres as well as 30-metre buffer zones.
Ms Richman said based on the information provided, it was impossible to determine whether this had been followed.
"The key piece of information that is missing is how the width of the corridors has been calculated," she said.
"At the moment all we have is a diagram indicating where the corridors will be and we don't have information that would enable anyone to independently assess whether the recommendations of the chief scientist have been genuinely applied."
A Lendlease spokesperson said it had engaged with Australian Ethical over a number of years to share plans for the project, which it said fully adhered to the independent and expert recommendations of the NSW chief scientist.
"Our $35 million investment into conservation at Gilead includes creating koala corridors that have been independently assessed as meeting the recommendations of the chief scientist in terms of width and connectivity," the spokesperson said.
'Slow extinction plan' for koalas
The proposed development has two main east-west corridors that allow koalas to travel across the landscape, critically between the Georges River and the Nepean River.
However, there are concerns a confluence where the two corridors meet at Menangle Creek is not wide enough, and could become a functional dead end.
"Koalas will not be able to move east-west through the landscape, which is the single most important thing the chief scientist recommended," Total Environment Centre urban sustainability campaigner Saul Deane said.
"If that can't happen it means the koalas can't move through the landscape, which means they will slowly disappear over time.
"It effectively sets a local and slow extinction plan for that area."
Development fast-tracked
The NSW government announced in November that Figtree Hill would be one of three developments in south-west Sydney that will be assessed by the state government instead of the council due to the project's "significance, complexity, and strong housing and environmental benefits".
"The Department of Planning and Environment will undertake the assessment of these proposals, which are all located in the Greater Macarthur Growth Area, so councils don't need to," NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts said.
But it is a move that has angered some, who believe it will now be difficult to assess the impact of the development on koala habitat.
"There will be no council oversight, there will be no independent planning panel looking at this," Mr Deane said.
"All we are relying on is the Department of Planning, working in conjunction with Lendlease telling us it is all going to be OK."
