It's now nearly two years since the Office of the NSW Building Commissioner was established to assist homeowners caught up in disputes over serious building problems.
Senior officials from the 450-strong Building Commissioner's office will attend next Wednesday's meeting of Neighbourhood Forum 5 (NF5) to discuss progress on dealing with complaints about major defects in new properties across the Illawarra region.
The creation of the Building Commissioner's office followed years of complaints to councils and the NSW Government about sub-standard building practices, many of which were non-compliant with the required standard.
The body is dedicated to ensuring buildings are compliant, safe and of good quality, and it can take action against builders or developers who compromise safety or cut corners, including issuing prohibition or rectification orders for serious defects.
The NF5 meeting, which will take place from 6pm on Wednesday, 1 October, has a packed agenda following the presentation by the Building Commissioner's team.
The meeting will also discuss reports on exhibition for public comment. These include are a Council study into flooding in the central Wollongong area (including South Wollongong), safety issues on the five-kilometre stretch of Mount Ousley Road up to Picton Road, and BlueScope's ambitious plans to revitalise 200 hectares of surplus land within the Port Kembla Steelworks.
The role of the Lake Illawarra Estuary Management Committee will be discussed, in light of the recent approval of a controversial jet ski hire business on Lake Illawarra.
The forum will also consider a suggestion that Council should install security cameras in the Stuart Park precinct after a recent spate of vandalism in the area resulting in thousands of dollars of damage.
Another controversial project on the NF5 agenda is the proposed rezoning of land near UOW at Gwynneville that would see the creation of 1,250 new homes, half of them social and affordable housing. As reported in The Illawarra Flame, locals are concerned about the impact on traffic, parking and general public amenity, and they've called for Wollongong Council to work with them to create a masterplan to give locals greater certainty about what the future holds.
The public is welcome to attend Wednesday's meeting, which will be held in the Wollongong City Library Theatrette, starting at 6pm.
Jeremy Lasek is a member of Neighbourhood Forum 5.
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