The Chief Judge of the Land & Environment Court has upheld the Appeal by Goldcoral Pty Ltd (Receiver and Manager Appointed) v Richmond Valley Council against the Northern Regional Planning Panel 2022 decision rejecting the proposed residential development at the Iron Gates Evans Head.
In other words the Chief Judge, Preston BJ, has granted development consent for residential development at the controversial Iron Gates site at Evans Head.
The approval is for application DA 2015/00096 for a concept proposal for the subdivision of land at 240 Iron Gates Drive, Evans Head, being Lot 163 in DP831052 and Lots 276 and 277 inDP755624, and a detailed proposal for Stage 1 of the development, subject to detail conditions set out by the Court.
Trojan Horse?
A proposed Stage 2 part of the DA has been removed and will be the subject of a further DA. However a Stage 1 approval is, in our view, a Trojan Horse for future development of the site.
Evans Head Residents for Sustainable Development are currently reviewing the judgement provided by the Court but note that a substantial argument for development was based on the history of the site being zoned for residential development for 40 years despite repeated objection by the community to such a zoning.
Richmond Valley Council refused to hold a formal hearing about a change to the zoning of the Iron Gates site when the 2012 LEP was being developed and declined to appear at a community meeting where the matter was discussed.
The community wanted to remove the residential development zoning for the site because of the fire and flood prone nature of the area and its remoteness from the Evans Head community as a satellite development amongst other variable.
Community ignored
This ‘ignoring’ of local community concerns is a legacy effect of the forced amalgamation in 2000 when the State government forced the former Richmond River Shire Council into amalgamation with Casino Municipal Council to create Richmond Valley Council.
More than 75 per cent of the community opposed the amalgamation.
Casino has dominated council matters ever since because of the larger population, not helped by removal of the ward system pushed by Casino councillors at the time.
Locals warned that there would be loss of control over local affairs as a result of amalgamation and we are now seeing this legacy effect play out with approval of the Iron Gates development along with an excessive rates burden imposed on those living at the coast.
It is not clear what the true long-term environmental, economic and social costs of the development will be to the community as these issues do not appear to have been canvassed in the judgement.
However it is very clear that the development is in a high fire-risk area judging by the amount of space given in the judgement to the management of fire issues including a Shelter-in-Place building for fire and flood emergencies.
It would appear at time of writing that the NSW government still does not have in place a Shelter-in-Place policy for fire or flood.
♦ Dr Richard Gates, Member of the Executive, Evans Head Residents for Sustainable Development Inc.
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. 
