The message from the refusal of the development application (DA) for the mega, mixed development at Suffolk Park by Commissioner Dickson last Thursday is ‘Don’t give up!’ Developers do not always win, but it is imperative to get key stakeholders on board.
Denwol Suffolk ignored our community’s expressed objections to the original plans, and forced us to two hearings at the Land and Environment Court (L&EC) in marked contrast to Cadre at Bangalow, for example. For us, fighting this DA’s outrageous overdevelopment and its modified plans, modified again during the hearing, involved galvanising and sustaining community pressure for over two years.
Without Byron Shire Council’s (BSC) preparedness to see the DA off after the appeal process was initiated, Suffolk Park and its unique character would be doomed. The units turned over from the much vaunted ‘affordable housing’ to short-term rental accommodation. Public safety was at further risk with the developer’s objection to the provision of a footpath and associated infrastructure. Still more ‘retained’ trees were to be removed from the frontage of Clifford Street, due to their lack of viability.
The decision by the Commissioner represents a huge win for us and the environment. This was judged to be at risk of serious and irreversible impacts on biodiversity values. The clearing of the Coastal Cypress Endangered Ecological Community (EEC) ‘is likely to contribute significantly to the risk of [it] becoming extinct by continuing the pattern of clearing for urban development’. Addressing this pattern of clearing in the L&EC is very heartening in the context of the current fight to save Wallum and its precious ecology from luxury development.
It is not over yet. The developer has 28 days to lodge a further appeal against the Commissioner’s decision refusing consent. I have the expectation this does not happen, given what we’ve already been put through.
I thank BSC, in particular Cr Duncan Dey, for supporting us throughout these proceedings. Also, the Suffolk Park Progress Association. Above all, the general community’s indefatigable activism and diligence, without which this story would be very different.
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. 
