A Development Application for the Cudgen Leagues Club was an item before Tweed Council at their meeting last week where councillors looked at proposed alterations and additions the premises.
A fire saw the building suffer significant damage – emergency services were called to club on Monday 4, May 2020, where Fire and Rescue NSW crews took several hours to extinguish the blaze.
Before Council were plans for a staged development and the staff recommendation was that the DA be approved subject to several conditions, including item 76 which would see the club not permitted to use the facility as a Function Centre.
Before Councillors voted, Cr Warren Polglase moved that condition 76 be deleted from conditions recommended. Council moved the discussion into confidential to speak about the issue.
Unanimous support for the amendment?
After the private debate Cr Polglase said that he would love to see unanimous support for the amended motion. ‘I’d love to have your support on this. That’s why I’m moving in that direction. The club’s been struggling for about two and a half years or thereabouts. They’ve brought on board some really professional people to help them get to where they want to go. It’s not going to be easy – therefore we as a Council need to support them in their endeavours to get there and the issue about functions that it’s not going to actually break the bank in any way.’
Cr James Owen said that it’s a great club and the fire was devastating. ‘The situation they’re in now is also very challenging. I’m aware of that. And I think the community of the club wants to get back to full operations as soon as possible. I think this has been here for a long time, not just because of the many factors. And I think, you know, to move this on expeditiously, is a good thing so they can get on with what they need to do to try and rebuild the club.
Cr Owen spoke to the Club representatives in the public gallery. ‘If this recommendation gets supported, it doesn’t mean to say that you can’t have functions you can have functions. You could have lots of functions. So I think you’ll still be able to operate just as you would have done anyway. I don’t think this is going to affect that in any way. So I’m just keen to see the club rebuilt, bigger and better than it was before.’
Cr Cherry took a vote on the motion as recommended with condition 76 included and the result was unanimously for.
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