Sewage dump to become sports fields in $100m council deal

A disused dumping ground for Sydney’s sewage will be transformed into a swathe of sporting fields, in a deal struck after the NSW Government’s bungled council mergers. 

Hornsby Shire Council has been given $100 million in compensation to invest in the old Sydney Water site at Westleigh and Hornsby Quarry. 

The council lost tens of millions in rates after the boundaries south of the M2 Motorway were redrawn and handed to City of Parramatta. It reduced Hornsby's population by about 15,000. 

$40 million of the funds will be used to remediate 23 hectares of land in Westleigh. The site was owned by Sydney Water and has previously been used to dump human waste and garbage. 

Seven all-weather, all-purpose sporting fields will be built, along with a walking track and other community recreation facilities. 

“This is an $100 million investment in this area to ensure that Hornsby Shire residents are no worse off as a result of council boundary changes,” Hornsby MP Matt Kean said. 

Early plans to sell the site to developers for homes was met with fierce community anger, prompting Council to buy the land in 2016. 

“Six hundred houses we don't need,” Thornleigh Thunder Football Club president Geoff Knowles said. 

“Space to play, people active outside from all walks of life, that's what we do need.” 

The compensation comes after hard-nosed lobbying by Hornsby Mayor and former Federal Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock. 

“I expect the government will do what it said it will do,” Cr Ruddock said. 

“It’s a government that keeps it’s promises and they said we will not be worse off.” 

Remediation will take some time, with the playing fields not expected to be open for at least three years.