The continued clearing taking place by Dubbo developer MAAS at 60 Tringa Street, Tweed Heads on the Cobaki Estuary of Tweed River continues to leave residents frustrated. The site was approved for development 27 years ago and the existing development approval fails to meet current flood and environmental requirements say locals.
The Tweed Shire Council issued a ‘cease operations’ request on 6 April which MAAS have ignored and continued to work on the site.
They originally fenced the site off down to the estuary bank which included public land along Cobaki Creek. However, following complaints from locals and subsequent notification of their inclusion of public land they have now moved the fence back to their boundary.
No access right via Tringa St
Lindy Smith, president of the Tweed District Residents and Ratepayers Association told The Echo that the developer has illegally cleared an access route via Tring Street that has caused damage to environmentally sensitive and protected areas.
‘Unfortunately, they [MAAS] have no regard for the serious non-compliance matters and the cease operations issued on 6 April. In the immediate term, a prohibition needs to be put on access to the development site from Tringa Street; as under the approved legal development consent, there is no access to the development site from Tringa Street.
‘The current construction works via the unlawful Tringa Street access has breached the condition for the environmental protected buffer zone by cutting their tracks through this area,’ she said.
The temporary access via Tringa Street has been put forward since 2003, but apart from a ten-week access period granted ‘from the 6th August 2003’ according to council staff. There is no permission in place to access the site along this route at this time.
‘Submissions closed yesterday on their S4.55 Application for amendment relevant to the so-called temporary access that has been floated since 2003,’ Ms Smith explained.
Tweed Heads.
‘It is seriously flawed, fails to disclose significant environmental and infrastructure constraints, and fails to include other properties of the proposed temporary access. Further, it reveals the approved legal access to the site has changed in the layout plans with no process to amend the approved legal access. Thus, there are now very serious legality issues.’
The Echo asked MASS questions regarding the apparently unapproved works taking place on the site, the impact of their activities on the environmental protection buffer zones and that large trees cleared on site were chipped in contravention of the approved Vegetation Management Plan.
A spokesperson responded saying, ‘Following discussions internally this week, we have determined that it would not be appropriate to respond to your questions at this particular time.’
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
