Absolute dystopian dismal proposal. Hundreds of trees to be cut down even under a reviewed plan. Mature protected trees and wildlife. No one in the community wants this. Please protect our environment and our future. It’s our responsibility.

I know this Area well and for years every time I cross the river on Epping Rd I habitually gain enormous psychological pleasure from the Natural Bush clad landscape that is such a significantat feature of the LaneCove River on both sides. Bushland ecosystems for wildlife wihin the urban Area is in a critical state. It valued by people but not by the NSW Government. it is irreplaceable.

I have never written a submission - Unfortunately I have very limited time to write this due to only finding out about this proposal recently and the submissions closing in 15 minutes. As a bush regenerator I must take action as I am extremely saddened to hear about this proposal to build a data centre over beautiful remnant bushland.

Remnant bushland is becoming more and more scarce with the never ending rise of urbanisation. Fragmentation is a huge issue because of this and this is a very important green corridor for our native wildlife, especially in terms of connectivity to Lane Cove National Park. I have worked extremely closeby at the Fairyland Track and it would be devastating to see the land you propose to build on destroyed and our wildlife unable to access it. Many species risk being lost to the area, which also affect the flora too. Natural bushland is such an important aspect of our ecosystem that cannot be overlooked and will affect many other ecosystems negatively. You cannot replicate this by planting trees elsewhere in order to attempt to make up for building over it and it is simply greenwashing. Trees are a refuge and habitat for our native wildlife and hollows within them take many years to develop. Wildlife are particular in terms of their habitat and need hollows of many different sizes in order to remain in an area. It is so important to also preserve the flora of the bushland as not only does it provide food and shelter for animals, but we have such a unique and beautiful diversity of native plants here. The geology is also just as important as the soils take centuries to develop. Ruining and modifying the soil profile will also have devastating results. Please reconsider these actions.

I am an environmental science student in the area who is concerned about the potential clearing of mature, hollow-bearing trees. The loss of hollow-bearing trees has such a devastating impact that it has been listed as a Key Threatening Process under the Biodiversity Conservation Act (previously the Threatened Species Conservation Act) since 2007. Mature, hollow-bearing trees are extremely important for providing habitat to native birds, invertebrates, marsupials and other fauna. Trees take more than a hundred years to begin developing hollows. Newly planted trees will not provide this sort of value to an ecosystem for a long time. The absence of an impact assessment of this potential loss to the local wildlife is worrying - will threatened species be affected? Biodiversity offset schemes are no substitute for local, ecologically significant trees. Research by the Australia Institute and many media reports have shown that most biodiversity credit schemes are 'of low integrity'. Please give greater consideration to maintaining hollow-bearing trees in the development of this project.

Mature hollow bearing trees cannot be replaced in value in their current ecosystem. Planting more trees elsewhere doesn’t negate the damage that would occur by removing critical habitat for wildlife who are already feeling the impacts of clearing for development. The amount of hollow bearing trees has diminished significantly and has put a huge stress on wildlife that rely on them.

I object to this development because of the risks imposed on the Lane Cove National Park due to the destruction of this ‘buffer zone’ as well as the destruction of the bush land currently there. The deforesting of urban environments has significant implications. For a city that is already so affected by the heat and global warming of climate change this is significantly impactful particularly for Sydney. The developers plans to plant other trees elsewhere does not address this issue nor protect the Lane Cove National Park.

The removal of 500 trees to build a data centre will harm the environment. As the proposed area is contiguous with Lane Cove National Park, it would damage an otherwise carefully protected ecosystem.
A data centre is fleetingly important – within 100 years the same technology will be made far more compact as seen time and time again – and the clearing of this land is irreversible.

I believe a data centre should not be built here in order to protect a vulnerable bushland and a wildlife corridor.

At the least the area should be assessed by a trained ecologist on how much damage the data centre could cause and how to best mitigate damages.

This proposal is beside Lane cove national park. This isa precious natural area in a built up city.
The developer states:
“The Proposal will involve the clearing of native vegetation to allow the construction of a new data centre on the Site.”
⁠⁠"The Proposal’s development footprint proposes to remove 1.33 hectares of native vegetation on the Site” [and removal of 509 trees]
”The Proposal requires species credits to offset the loss of habitat for three threatened (candidate) fauna species, namely: Large-eared Pied Bat Chalinolobus dwyeri, Little Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus australis and Large Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus orianae oceanensis, and four threatened plant species, being Darwinia biflora, Deyeuxia appressa, Hibbertia spanantha and Rhizanthella slateri, in which presence has been assumed in the vegetation zone 3952_ModGood due to suitable habitat within the Subject Land and restriction of survey period.”

There is suggestion they will offset by planting trees elsewhere - this does not help the threatened (candidate) fauna - they are living in the area and need to be accommodated where they currently reside.

This development needs to consider their neighbours (LCNP) and current inhabitants in place (native fauna). Planting trees elsewhere does not preserve the value of Lane Cove National Park.
In reviewing, assessing, and providing caveats on this proposal ensure the animal corridors and natural integrity of LCNP is at least maintained by development neighbouring it (if not improved).