The majority of Tweed councillors refused to support a proposed community consultation over the expansion of Merv Edwards Sports Field in Kingscliff to accommodate the Kingscliff Junior AFL Club.
At the July 18 Tweed Council meeting Mayor, Chris Cherry proposed that the council defer a decision to expand the sports field that will see the removal of 44 native trees at the site to accommodate the increased sports field.
Councillors in support of moving ahead with the expansion of the sports field highlighted that the site was a community space for community sports.
However, the Mayor pointed out that the Tweed Council had just had the sports field strategy on public exhibition, a strategy based on community feedback, and the expansion of the Merv Edwards Sports Field had not featured in that community feedback process.
Further, Councillor Dr Nola Firth pointed out that there ‘has been money allocated to [the development of] King’s Forest for an AFL field’.
This was confirmed by the Mayor and staff confirmed that the full AFL field would likely be finished by the end of 2027 to early 2028.
‘We’re looking at three and a half years [for the Kings Forest sports field to be completed]. So I think the gain that we’re getting for the loss of 44 trees is not really fair,’ said Cr Cherry.
‘I think that if the community felt so strongly about this then we would have had this coming into the sports field strategy. A lot of consultation was undertaken with our community before the sports field strategy was drafted. It was drafted based on all of the stakeholder feedback and then sent out to the community. In that it talks about how the AFL club is going to be hosted at [Kings Forest] sports fields and it does talk about how there are interim arrangements in place.
‘Let’s not forget that the changes we’re talking about are only going to enable the under thirteens and fourteens to be able to play. No other higher years. So at the moment, the under elevens, are still fine to keep playing. It’s the under thirteens and fourteens that have to travel to Murwillumbah to play at this point and that’s not that massive ask.’
Councillor Rhiannon Brinsmead was quick to point out that staff had said that the new field would ‘likely be able to facilitate under fifteens through an exemption to the field size’.
Trees a community asset
Locals had contacted The Echo in May 2024 raising concerns over the removal of the trees at the site and the impact this would have on local use of the fields and the family of Bush Stone Curlews at the oval.
‘Replacing cut down trees elsewhere does nothing for this special space. The trees are home for many native fauna, our favourites being our local kookaburras and black cockatoos. Replanting trees elsewhere will take 20+ years to mature,’ they told The Echo at the time.
‘This goes against the councils “cool towns” policy that is committed to increasing natural shade to in parks and open spaces. This community park space is not just used by local sporting teams. On any given weekend you will see families playing, picnicking, and exercising outdoors in and amongst the ovals and lovely shaded native eucalypts. Sporting spectators have enjoyed the shade the trees provide for decades.’
Councillor James Owen was quick to point out that ‘these are publicly owned sporting facilities that have to be used that way. We’re not talking about going into a biodiverse, rich area.’
This position was supported by Cr Brinsmead who reminded the meeting that ‘this is a sporting field. This isn’t an ecological, biodiverse environment. It’s a sporting field. It gives benefit to our clubs. It gives benefits to our families. It gives benefit to our children. Everyone loves trees, but they can’t always be before the benefit to people.’
Councillors Warren Polgalse, Reece Byrnes, Owen and Brinsmead voted against the amendment to defer and consult with the community and voted in favour of the expansion of Merv Edwards Sports Field.
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