Hunter Workers has joined the campaign to preserve more than 500 hectares of Hunter forest slated for residential redevelopment, arguing residents should not have to choose between homes and green spaces.
Hunter Workers secretary Leigh Shears said the trades hall recognised the "environmental significance" of the Link Road Forest, the campaign to preserve which has become the subject of a petition bound for NSW Parliament this week after garnering more than 10,000 signatures.
"Hunter workers, families and communities have a right to secure, well-planned public, affordable and private housing, and to decent local jobs," Mr Shears said.
"But the urgent need for housing cannot become a licence to clear high environmental value forest without first proving that the land is suitable, that the environmental and cultural impacts are acceptable, and that other cleared, degraded and infill options have been genuinely assessed."
The 574-hectare forest in Newcastle's western suburbs had long been earmarked for residential development before the NSW government took over the planning determination last year - accelerating one of the largest Hunter land rezonings in decades - as it races to meet its ambitious housing supply targets.
The Minns Labor government set a five-year Newcastle council supply goal of 11,100 new homes complete by 2029 - more than double the number of dwellings built in the local government area from 2017 to 2022 - after campaigning on promises to streamline planning processes during the 2023 election.
The City of Newcastle has baulked at the target, though, arguing it was unrealistic to cram more than 60 per cent of its 20-year target into only five years.
In October last year, the council revealed it was unlikely to meet its 2029 benchmark, despite consistently meeting or exceeding development application timeframes.
The state government took over the Link Road Forest rezoning in January, seeking to speed up delivery of the Eden Estates housing project, accounting for 4200 new homes of a total potential 7800 new homes considered viable across five sites in the region.
Lower Hunter detractors have argued that levelling the forest to allow for thousands of dwellings to be built on both sides of Link Road, straddling the border between Newcastle and Lake Macquarie council areas near Wallsend, would only hasten the city's urban sprawl.
This week, the Link Road Forest Campaign sent 25 of its supporters to Macquarie Street with a petition of almost 10,500 signatories calling on the state government to acquire the land and preserve it as a national park.
Greens Upper House member Sue Higginson was expected to table the petition in Parliament soon.
Ian McKenzie, the Link Road Forest Campaign spokesman, said the forest was home to 17 threatened species, rendering its preservation critical for both conservation and as a public green space asset.
"Link Road Forest is far more than vacant land. It is a living forest, a wildlife corridor, a place of cultural significance and a vital community asset," he said.
"This issue is too important, and has too much public support for the ministers to ignore, especially with a state election looming."
In joining the campaign, Mr Shears said the Hunter should not be forced into a false choice between housing, jobs and protecting the natural environment.
"This is not a campaign against housing or construction jobs. It is a call for better planning: homes where they can be properly serviced, jobs that are secure and sustainable, and protection for places that cannot be replaced once they are gone," he said.
The trades hall said it wanted a "community-led discussion" about alternatives for disturbed land in the area, and consultation with the region's unions, representatives, traditional landowners, and residents.
"The Hunter has the capacity to plan a future that protects its natural heritage, respects its industrial and cultural history, and delivers well-planned homes, services and jobs," the Hunter Workers statement said.
Dwelling approvals data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the Lower Hunter on a growth trajectory, Western Sydney University economist Phillip O'Neill wrote in the Newcastle Herald in July.
"By 2050, the Lower Hunter is slated to reach a population of about 700,000 people, an increase of more than 20 per cent in the next 25 years," he said, estimating about 65,000 dwellings will be needed to meet demand.
"Where these dwellings are built will pretty much determine the shape of the Lower Hunter for the rest of the century if not forever."
