HYNASH will not receive financial support from Bathurst Regional council to build necessary stormwater infrastructure.
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Councillors went against the advice of council staff at the December 10, 2025 ordinary meeting, who had recommended the council enter into a works-in-kind arrangement for the construction of stormwater detention basins and associated landscaping adjacent to Marsden Lane.
It comes after councillors deferred a decision on the matter in November.
Among the factors that led to the recommendation was the staff's concerns about the need to prevent the flooding of properties in the area, including beyond the development site, in the future.
Had the recommendation been adopted, over $3.2 million would have been allocated towards the construction costs, funded from council's Section 7.11 Developer Contributions Plan for Raglan Creek Stormwater Management and borrowings from the stormwater drainage levies included in the adopted 2025-26 budget.
Council has entered into such arrangements previously and, after it is complete, the detention basin would become a council asset.
Some councillors, however, were concerned about the council funding the work amid its own financial challenges, particularly when Hynash was required to improve the existing drainage channel as part of its development application (DA) approval.
Cr Sophie Wright said that to tie up the council's funds with this project would border on "gross financial negligence".
"It's not the responsibility of a council that's in a cash-flow crisis to do a favour ... for a private developer to help them with their cash-flow," she said.
General manager David Sherley later denied the suggestion that the arrangement would have been "a favour", saying, "We're acting as we have traditionally done in these sorts of projects".
"And, as mentioned, it was looking for the longer term," he said.
Deputy mayor Ben Fry said the purpose of the proposed arrangement was to get the detention basin right the first time.
He acknowledged that not entering into the agreement with Hynash "might come back to bite us in a decade or so when we have a large storm event", but said the council wasn't in a position to "greenlight" it as it is currently "cash-strapped".
When it came time to vote, only councillors Nick Packham and Elaine West voted in support of the works-in-kind arrangement.
The motion was lost, with the mayor, deputy mayor, and councillors Warren Aubin, Natalie Cranston, Tony Gullifer, and Wright voting against it.
Cr Jac Underwood was absent.
It is possible that Hynash will now seek a variation on the development consent conditions to potentially construct something smaller in scale.
If a variation was sought, the director of Environmental, Planning and Building Services, Neil Southorn, confirmed what is ultimately built would still have to be sufficient to support the development.
