Two years after more than one million cubic metres of clean fill was tipped into Hornsby Quarry, north of Sydney, the master plans for the plot’s rehabilitation have been announced.
The new Hornsby park will include facilities for walking, cycling, mountain biking, climbing, field sports and more, while the old process plant will be converted into a recreational building.
In constant consideration of the local community, Hornsby Shire Mayor Philip Ruddock said the resultant parkland would be a great reflection of the people it planned to serve.
“A core component of projects of this magnitude is always the extensive public consultation that is undertaken,” Ruddock said.
“These are landmarks that will be part of our Shire’s heritage for generations to come and we want to make sure that the community has a sense of ownership.
“The only way to do that is by making the community an active part of the planning process.”
Inconveniently, the development of Hornsby Park and nearby Westleigh Park have a combined cost of about $130 million for the Shire.
After healthy contributions from the New South Wales Government and local council, a balance of $85 million still remains.
Ruddock said the reality when rehabilitating very large, very old quarries is the cost and timeline associated.
“The simple reality is that Hornsby Shire is much smaller than it was when this project was first considered, and we do not have the same resources that we did then,” Ruddock said.
“We are not scaling the projects back as a result, but we will have to carry out their implementation in stages.”
The one million cubic metres of fill used in the restoration process came from the nearby NorthConnex Tunnel project, which has connected the two major highways at either end of Hornsby Shire.
WATCH VIDEO
View the flythrough animation of Hornsby Shire’s vision for Hornsby Park, including the old quarry void, diatreme and former crushing plant.
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