The longstanding and controversial Iron Gates residential development at Evans Head was approved by the Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court (L&EC) on July 31, nearly ten years after the development application (DA) was submitted to Richmond Valley Council (RVC) for approval in 2014.
According to the developer, Graeme Ingles, the original 2014 DA was made at the invitation of the then General Manager of Richmond Valley Council (RVC) John Walker, recently elected to Richmond Valley Council as a councillor.
Since 2014 the DA has gone through various versions for public comment culminating in the matter being refused by the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP), led by Paul Mitchell, at its August 2022 public hearing held at the Evans Head RSL Club. Two independent reports had also recommended refusal.
However, in the refusal, which noted the housing shortage at Evans Head, the NRPP stated that a ‘…suitable scale development at Iron Gates could be appropriate, but only if its design and scale were compatible with the site’s setting and the application fully addressed the applicable environmental and cultural values, as well as other constraints…’ such as ‘…fire and flood emergencies’. The site is in a high bushfire and flood-risk area and the single 1km road in to, and out of, the site was severed in the 2022 flood.
The NRPP chair recommended at the August hearing, Shelter-in-Place (SIP) as a strategy to deal with fire and flood emergencies, but this recommendation was subject to discussion in the written determination in September on the grounds that ‘it may be impractical because no on-site retail or necessary facilities are proposed’. The public was never given the opportunity to comment on the SIP proposal at the hearing and was and is not NSW state government policy at time of writing. SIP is a cornerstone of the July 2024 judgement of the L&EC.
Following the NRPP refusal, developer Graeme Ingles lodged an appeal in the L&EC in September 2022 and later that year put the 100ha property on the market for sale. In early 2023 the property, being sold under the name Goldcoral Pty Ltd was taken off the market, a ‘receiver and manager’ appointed, and a new law firm (Corrs) took control of legal matters from Ingles’ solicitor.
In March 2023 a Section 34 hearing of the L&EC was held at Evans Head. That conciliation process failed.
In a subsequent hearing in the L&EC in 2023 at which a modified development proposal was considered by Registrar Froh, the application was rejected on the grounds that it was, in effect, a new proposal. Froh’s decision was challenged and in 2024 the Chief Judge of the L&EC took control of the case culminating in a formal court hearing commencing in June and final decision supporting the appeal against the refusal of the NRPP on July 31, 2024.
Intention to Appeal
The decision by Chief Judge Brian Preston to approve a highly-modified DA for a 121-block Community Title residential development, much of it made on the basis of expert reports behind closed doors out of the public view and away from public scrutiny, is now the subject of an ‘Intention to Appeal’ application made by Richmond Valley Council.
Council has until the end of October to decide whether or not it is going to proceed to a formal appeal. Council left it to the new council to make the decision and it will do so at its meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 22, this week, just nine days before the Intention to Appeal expires.
The lengthy report prepared for RVC by the general manager recommends against the appeal following ‘independent’ legal advice to Council about grounds for challenge and chances for success and consequential costs. The report notes that the decision of the L&EC can only be challenged on narrow legal technical grounds and not merit.
A spokesperson for Evans Head Residents for Sustainable Development said today that ‘while it was good to see that council had provided a relatively lengthy summary history of the case extending back more than 40 years, the summary has errors of fact and omissions and no critique of the “expert” reports on which the L&EC July decision was made. In our view there are legal matters which have not been considered in the “independent” legal review.
‘We are indeed grateful that Council made available those expert court reports but it is nearly three months since the July L&EC decision. In that time council could have consulted with the community about the L&EC decision and prepared a well-informed report for the new councillors which considered not only legal matters but economic and social consequences informed by community views. It is as if the community has had nothing to say or contribute.’
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