For three years Tweed Shire Council and the new owners of the Fingal Head General Store, currently closed, have been negotiating to resolve the illegal development that was built at 50 Main Road, Fingal Head in 2021.
The owners were required to stop building at the site following complaints and subsequent investigation in September 2021. The ‘new land owner was advised (29 September 2022) of the need to lodge a DA and Building Information Certificate (BIC) to seek consent for and regulate illegal works and deal with the use of the premises,’ according to the staff report.
The new owners were seeking to change the use to primarily become Cubbies main bakery. Following the investigation the landowner confirmed a commitment to offer a General Store.
Staff had recommended that the DA be refused as the owner had failed to present a DA that would be permissible at the site and in the residential area of Fingal Head.
Tweed Councillor Meredith Dennis said she was particularly disappointed with the DA.
‘We did attend a site visit yesterday and basically the commercial bakery has already been built there’s massive ovens, huge big pastry mixers, and various other bits and pieces,’ she said.
Councillors James Owen and Rhiannon Brinsmead put forward a deferral of the decision with Cr Owene saying that he believed the proponent, Mr Chook Fingal Pty Ltd, had received planning advice from their advisors, not council, that ‘hasn’t stood them in good stead’.
‘I just would like to give them another chance to see if we can find a workable solution here,’ said Cr Owen.
Cr Dr Nola Firth said she would not support a deferral. Cr Firth highlighted that the food preparation area had increased by 676 per cent, the operating hours began at 4am which was not allowed in a residential area and the issue of parking was significant.
Mayor Chris Cherry put forward an amendment for refusal seconded by Cr Dennis. Cr Cherry highlighted that staff had been trying to work with the illegal developer to find a solution for three years and that they had not been able to achieve one. She also pointed out that the proponent could open the general store at any time as they had existing permission for this use.
Residential zone
‘What this DA is about is authorising the works that have gone on and being done without approval to really intensify the activities of the business and to change the nature of the business in a lot of ways,’ said Cr Cherry.
‘Unfortunately, the issues that the staff have raised in terms of permissibility is the crux of this matter. So the intensification that is being proposed is just not permissible under the existing use rights that are there. We just need to remember that this is a residential zone. This is a zone where people are living right next door. It’s not a commercial zone as our first speaker from public access said.
‘I understand where Councillor Owen is coming from with his motion to defer and the plain truth is that we’ve had three years to negotiate. We’ve had three years for this proponent to come to the table and say, ‘okay, we won’t do the commercial outside deliveries. Okay, we won’t do the early start openings. Okay. We won’t do all of these things that make the project into something that isn’t able to be in the zone’. And they haven’t chosen to do that.’
The amendment was lost with Crs Owen, Brinsmead, Polgalse and Byrnes voting against.
Councillor Owen then tried to place a time frame for the return of the DA for July, however, staff were clear that the council had no real control over the time it would take for the proponent to redo the DA and return it to council.
The motion to defer the decision was supported and the decision may well now come before the next council that will be elected in September.
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