THE development application for the controversial $6.5 million Bathurst Service Centre on the old Windyhill Nursery site on the Great Western Highway at Raglan has been withdrawn from council for a redesign.
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News of the application for a two-storey, 48-room motel, petrol station, convenience store, seven shops and a 111-unit self-storage facility created heated debate among Western Advocate readers when it was first reported on September 10.
Raglan residents said the development of the 1.74-hectare (4.29-acre) site was not in keeping with their village atmosphere.
Residents also hit out at council for not providing adequate time to lodge submiss-ions of objection.
In their four-page submission against the development, Nile Street residents Rohan Moppett and his wife Kelly said the development, if approved, would “greatly take away the village atmosphere of our street and to a certain extent, Raglan as a whole”.
Mr Moppett cited international research about the negative health effects of living so close to a petrol station.
“Children living within the vicinity of fuel stations have four times the risk of developing leukaemia due to high benzene levels,” he said.
Another Nile Street resident, Katrina Embleton, whose home would be across the road from the proposed petrol station, told the Western Advocate that increased traffic was her concern.
But the proposed centre won cautious support from business experts.
Providing facilities for residents on Bathurst’s perimeter was vital to support a growing population, but it needed to be well planned, Western Research Institute chief executive officer Danielle Ranshaw said.
The public was invited to attend Bathurst Regional Council’s policy committee meeting tomorrow to discuss the plans, however, this has now been postponed indefinitely.
Peter Basha from Peter Basha Planning and Development, which prepared the development application, said the DA will be back on the table, just in a different format.
“It has been withdrawn for the purpose of redesign matters and will be resubmitted at a later stage,” he said.