$54.6 million investment to clean up contaminated sites across the state

Legacy contaminated sites will be cleaned up across the state as part of a $54.6 million NSW Government commitment to restore government land that has been polluted by past industrial practices.

Property and Development NSW (PDNSW) and Crown Lands in the Department of Planning and Environment will support the remediation of a range of sites polluted by private companies, with the two agencies playing an ongoing role in dealing with contamination issues.

Crown Lands is cleaning up Crown land sites contaminated by past practices dating back decades, with $13.3 million Budget funding over two years, with some projects including:

• Site investigations and remediation of contamination in buildings, soil and water at the former Bathurst Gasworks site which operated from 1888 until 1987.
• Dealing with lead contamination on Crown land sites at Captains Flat, where a multi-agency taskforce has been working on lead abatement plans after elevated lead levels were discovered from the former Lake George Mine which operated from 1882 until 1962.
• Remediation of the former Dural sandstone quarry which ceased in the early 2000s. More than 214 tonnes of waste have already been removed but further work is required to deal with landslip issues and contaminated soil.
• Remediating contamination and dealing with land stabilisation at Quarry Lane at Dural.
• Clean-up work on the former Empire Bay Marina site on the Central Coast. which has been declared significantly contaminated by the EPA.
• Dealing with legacy asbestos pollution on the Walka Water Works reserve at Oakhampton Heights near Maitland.

At Rutherford in the Hunter, PDNSW has completed the first phase to clean up the contaminated former Truegain waste oil processing facility with a further $19 million allocated in the Budget over the next three years to finish the job. 

In Newcastle, PDNSW is also commencing remediation work to remove legacy waste and structures from the grounds of properties on the site of the former Waratah Gasworks.

PDNSW will allocate $22.3 million over three years from insurance funding towards the remediation work which will be undertaken in stages with works at seven properties on the south of Ellis Road forecast to be completed by mid-2024. 

Minister for Lands and Property Steve Kamper said:

“This funding is terrific news and means that we can continue working to cleanup old industrial sites like Truegain that have left a blight on their communities.

“Many of these sites were operated decades ago by companies that treated land and the environment as by-products to making a buck. 

“We want to restore these places so that they are free of contamination and can be made available for community, industrial or environmental use.”