The decision by the Planning Assessment Commission to severely limit the scope of the Shaolin tourist and residential proposal for Comberton Grange was never going to please everyone.
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For Shoalhaven City Council, it has come as a blow because it was banking on the economic benefits the project would bring.
For the Shaolin Foundation, which not long after floating the concept of a temple and associated tourist infrastructure including a hotel added a golf course and housing subdivision, the commercial equation will doubtless look much less attractive. It’s probable it will walk away from the project.
For Cr Greg Watson, who was a passionate advocate of the project, from its more humble vision to its expanded residential scale, the decision will cut deeply.
However, for the residents who fought tooth and nail against the project, fearing the environmental consequences, it is a sweet victory, one that suggests their objections have been taken seriously by the independent Planning Assessment Commission.
What happens next will be mightily interesting. South Coast MP Shelley Hancock has thrown down the challenge to the Shaolin to get on and build what they originally proposed to demonstrate their sincerity in wanting to promote a Buddhist way of life.
If they do walk away, it will vindicate what the naysayers have maintained all along, including former Planning Minister Frank Minister Frank Sartor; that the project was a Trojan horse for an urban development on sensitive land that was unsuited for the proposed purpose.
