Conservationists urge NSW government to buy Radiata Plateau in the Blue Mountains
Conservation groups are calling for the state government to purchase a significant Blue Mountains landholding and list it as part of the Blue Mountains National Park to protect it from development.
The site, known as Radiata Plateau, is believed to be one of the largest private landholdings and the last undeveloped plateau in the Blue Mountains region and has been put on the market for the first time in decades for $2.8 million.
The property covers 306 hectares over five lots on one title, and another lot on a separate title of 89 hectares which is zoned as ‘Environmental Management’ that may allow small residential or eco-tourism development, subject to council approval.
The five largest lots incorporating the majority of the site are zoned as Environmental Conservation, which has stricter criteria for development applications, but is different to land in the adjacent national park.
The entire site is undeveloped and has power to the boundary but no water, gas or sewerage.
It also incorporates ‘Black’s Ladder’, a significant Indigenous site that was used as a pathway through the Megalong Valley onto the escarpment.
According to the Blue Mountains Conservation Society there are other important Indigenous sites on the property but a full Indigenous heritage report has not been completed.
It is also home to endangered plant and animal species and is used by bushwalkers and rock climbers.
As part of their ‘Leave Radiata Wild’ campaign, the Blue Mountains Conservation Society is calling on the NSW Minister for the Environment, Matt Kean, to purchase the site, citing the fact that a new owner could want to develop it.
“There’s an urgency to act on this right now because it’s on the open market and if a young millionaire purchases the site instead, it could be a toy for them,” said society president Lachlan Garland.
“We’re talking to the minister, writing letters and trying to get 500 letters sent to the minister by the end of the month and we should achieve that quite easily.
“We’re putting pressure onto the government because this could also be an easy win for them to improve their environmental record.
“I believe the site has some of the best rock climbing in Australia so it’s got that community use as well as environmental significance as the last untouched escarpment.
“We’ve talked about crowdfunding to try and buy the site but it’s a lot of money,” Mr Garland said.
The society has been campaigning for 35 years to protect the area and in December last year more than 30 groups and community leaders signed an open letter to then environment minister Gabrielle Upton calling for the government to buy the site.
Mr Kean’s office referred comment to a National Parks and Wildlife Services whose spokeman said “the NPWS is aware that the property is listed on the open market”.
The owner of the land is an transcendental meditation group called Maharishi Global Administration Through Natural Law Ltd, which has held the site for 45 years and refers to it as ‘Invincibility Point’. They have been contacted for comment.
According to council records they had submitted multiple development applications for large meditation centres dating back to the 1980s, all of which had been rejected.
In 2016 the group lodged applications for three new buildings on the plateau, which went before the Land and Environment Court. The court refused two of the three buildings, and since then no construction has commenced on the one approved building.
The sale of the property is being handled by agents Theo Poulos Real Estate, based in Katoomba.
“The Poulos Family have been in the Blue Mountains since 1924 and treasure its natural beauty. We hope to find the conservationist in the new owner who will be honoured to share this historically and environmentally important land mass,” director Peter Poulos said in a statement.
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