Land speculators who bought cheap conservation zoned land in the hope that it may eventually be rezoned for development purchased what is commonly termed 'paper subdivisions'.  That is lot divisions on paper only  deposited by a wishful property developer of many years gone by. 

In the early 1900's real estate developers having leased or purchased land from the originally land grantees would deposit their real estate vision plans with the land drawn up into small acreage lots. Such plans were usually drawn with little consideration of the topography, access to utilities or health facilities, employment, transport, sewerage etc and certainly no idea of the importance of conservation lands a centuy later.

But now speculators who have purchased these very same lots are pushing for the environment -conservation zoning to be overturned.   The paper subdivision land of the greater Helensburgh region wasn't suitabe for development in 1905, 1980 or 1994 and certainly isn't now.  

Despite the current Liberal government's strategy to unlock some of the paper subdivision land on the outskirts of Sydney, the northern suburbs of Wollongong don't meet the criteria required for new housing estates.   Fortunately, Wollongong City Council planning department agree and below is copy of their submission to NSW Dep Planning regarding paper subdivision development.