Last night’s extraordinary meeting of Tweed Shire Council saw the Liberal and Labor councillors, James Owen, Rhiannon Brinsmeand and Reece Byrnes backflip on their backflip. They are now supporting the council to defend the appeal by Gales Holding who want to alter their development application (DA) and fill the Kingscliff floodplain with unspecified material and change haul method to bring in the fill.
‘Thanks to Mayor Cherry, Deputy Mayor Dennis and Councillor Firth for raising the rescission motion and standing firm for community throughout the whole DA consideration process. Thanks to Councillors for voting for the rescission motion and thanks especially to the many community members who contacted Councillors directly,’ Peter Newton, President of the Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association (KRPA), told The Echo.
‘This is a very good decision and a welcome outcome for our communities. The overwhelming 6:1 majority decision reflects the strength of Councillor’s emphatic refusal of the DA just a few short weeks ago and very much reflects the power and strength of community.’
This means that the council will no longer support ‘a negotiated approval’ for fill to be used on the Kingscliff floodplain and will now defend the decision they made to insist that Gales Holdings use the sand fill as specified in the 2008 in the Land and Environment Court (L&EC) approval of the DA.
‘We understand that this decision is a vital first step in the process, clearing the way for Council to defend the proponents appeal to the refusal of the DA. There is much more to take place before our communities can be safely assured that this floodplain site will not receive ‘unspecified fill’, nor the impact of 68 haul trucks an hour on our roads,’ said Mr Newton.
Defend our community
‘Win or lose, developer appeals such as this must be defended. Costs of an appeal defense pale into insignificance with the costs to the community this DA would bring. The increased flood, environmental risks and traffic, infrastructure and amenity impacts that this DA would bring to Kingscliff and our neighbouring communities along the Tweed Coast and upstream cannot simply be allowed to pass through without a strong Council response.
‘The 23 clear and unambiguous points of refusal to the DA as were raised by Mayor Cherry and overwhelmingly supported 6:1 by Councillors in refusing the DA did not simply vanish into thin air when the proponent lodged their appeal. So, it was disappointing and puzzling for the process to unfold as it has, with the community put through unnecessary angst as councillors chopped and changed their positions.
Why did councillors desert the community?
‘While we welcome the overwhelming support for the rescission motion and appeal defense, we are disappointed that, as a community, we had to strongly encourage Councillors to support us on this. It is puzzling as to why three councillors stepped away from their strong refusal of the DA, subsequent support for the appeal defense and then joining Councillor Polglase’s motion to alter, potentially placing our communities unnecessarily in a dire situation should the DA be allowed to proceed as submitted.
‘While we will not agree on all matters with Councillors, on these significant, community defining development matters, we would expect our elected representatives to have our backs. It shouldn’t be up to the community to continually defend our respective communities basic fabric and amenity. We would hope and expect no less than Councillors strong support and advocacy for the community interest on this and other significant matters,’ said Mr Newton.
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