Pub to be knocked down

Redevelopment of Kingswood Hotel approved with more apartments coming

MAKAYLA MUSCAT

The iconic Kingswood Hotel is getting set for a drastic overhaul after Penrith City Council approved a Development Application (DA) worth almost $70 million.

Last week, Council approved the plans to demolish the pub and rebuild it with units, which were lodged by Iris Capital, a development and hospitality group in December 2021.

The new development will encompass 180 Great Western Highway, Kingswood, where the venue currently sits, along with a vacant L-shape block of land at 26 Rodgers Street, Kingswood.

On June 29, Council approved the development to be undertaken in two stages.

First, a five-storey building will be constructed on Rodgers Street with 54 residential apartments, a ground floor bottle shop and two basement levels for parking.

Once it has been completed, the existing Kingswood Hotel will be knocked down and rebuilt as an eight-storey building containing 79 apartments, a pub, rooftop common space and three basement levels for parking.

According to Iris Capital, they intend to provide a mixed-use hotel development that demonstrates design excellence, boasts an inviting and active pedestrian interface, and offers a high level of amenity for occupants.

The Statement of Environmental Effects attached to the DA stated that “development is a unique opportunity for the holistic redevelopment of a significant landholding located directly opposite Kingswood Railway Station and positioned at a significant intersection in the locality”.

The document also said it is “opportune” being in close and direct proximity to institutional facilities including Nepean Hospital,

Western Sydney University and Kingswood TAFE, which all play key roles in the local community.

A temporary pub will continue to trade from 9am to 3am Monday to Saturday and 10am to 10pm on Sunday during construction.

The bottle shop will trade from 10am to 11pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 10pm on Sunday apart from Good Friday, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.

Council’s notice of determination states that there will be four car wash bays and 67 bicycle and motorcycle spaces across the two buildings.

The original Kingswood Hotel opened in 1953 and has stood on the corner of the Great Western Highway and Bringelly Road for more than half a century.

More pictures: See the story on our website at www.westernweekender.com.au.

Lindsay community deserves true consultation on flight paths

I have long been a supporter of Western Sydney International Airport, with the thousands of jobs it will bring for local residents closer to home, and the opportunities it will deliver for our community. However, this does not mean I will stand by and let the electorate of Lindsay be unfairly hit by the majority of flight paths, and I certainly will not be quiet about it if our community is not receiving the consultation it deserves.

Right now, both of these things are happening.

Last week, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King announced the preliminary flight paths at 12.01am while our community slept, and that day when I hit the media on the streets of Penrith, she was giving a press conference from Victoria. I asked at this time that the flight paths be fair and balanced, and that the Albanese Government have a true consultation process. This week, we found out there are no advertised community information and feedback sessions in the electorate of Lindsay, despite our community being the most impacted by the new flight paths. We deserve to have our voices heard in the first round of feedback sessions. The closest consultation is just outside the electorate at Luddenham Markets, which will thankfully capture that community. I hope the Lindsay electorate being missed off the list is an oversight, and I’ll be asking the Department to rectify it.

Under the preliminary flight paths released, per day there could be:

• More than 75 flights above Penrith High Street and the Nepean River.

• Over 100 flights above Castlereagh and Llandilo.

• Planes as low as 750 feet over Twin Creeks.

• Over 100 flights across St Marys.

Many more suburbs across the community will face loud noise from numerous day and night arrivals and departures under the proposed flight paths, such as Caddens, Cambridge Park, Claremont Meadows, Cranebrook, Kingswood and Werrington. You can see how you’re impacted by the multiple different flight paths by typing your address in at: wsiflightpaths. aerlabs.com

Make sure you give the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts your feedback at: wsiflightpaths.gov.au/feedbackform/

Once again, I call on the Albanese Labor Government’s Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King to genuinely engage in the consultation process to ensure we have Fair Flight Paths in Lindsay.

You can sign my petition calling for Fair Flight Paths at the QR code: