Heated debate over a possible Kingscliff Men’s Shed

The Kingscliff Men’s Shed became a hammer of contention last night as Tweed councillors split, three-three, over the mayor’s motion that Council include a men’s shed as a permitted use on land at Elrond Drive in Kingscliff, the site of the Elrond Drive pod village.

The Kingscliff Men’s Shed have made representations requesting the future use of some of the land on Elrond Drive as a potential men’s shed.

Notes in Councillor Cherry’s motion said that men’s sheds benefit the community in a number of different ways – by providing social connection for men as they retire and leave the workforce, by sharing knowledge and skills, by giving back to the community in terms of projects, and by providing a place to repair or build furniture.

Sheds have been shown to increase the well-being of men in a community.

Making the Mens’ Shed dream a reality

Currently the land at Elrond Drive in Kingscliff is classified Council-owned community land and is defined as Open-Space and Park. A men’s shed is not a permitted purpose on this land at this time. In order to achieve a men’s shed on this site, this use would need to be added to the purpose of this land in a site-specific Plan of Management and then a DA sought for the shed.

Owing to state requirements for changes to use in public land, the next steps are a vote by Council for the creation of a site-specific plan of management, then, following a successful council meeting, a permissible use of Men’s Shed is needed for the site. This would be proposed in the draft Plan of Management and taken to the community during an exhibition process before coming back to a council meeting for endorsement. A development pathway is then required. Following the successful change of permitted use, the men’s shed would need to submit a DA. Then a community consultation would be required on this DA.

Cr Cherry’s notes said that as can be seen from the process, there are a number of steps where the community will be consulted. ‘This Notice of Motion seeks to begin the process required to allow a Men’s Shed with associated community uses at Elrond Drive in Kingscliff,’ she said.

Suitability of the site

Councillor Kimberly Hone expressed concerns about the suitability of the proposed site, citing community opposition and lack of parking.

Cr Hone said the men’s shed definitely needs room to expand. ‘They certainly need more space. They’re growing. They’re an amazing organization. They do great things in the community.

‘This particular parcel of land, from my opinion, is not the best location for a men’s shed. Immediately, it will get men’s shed off on the wrong foot, I can tell you now, because I have spoken to the residents, you do not have community support overall on this.’

Cr Hone said there is insufficient space for parking and for traffic. ‘We know Men’s Shed uses power tools, and I’d hate for you to see restrictions on what you can use down the track, and then, therefore won’t be able to, fully use all the equipment that you have.’

Fully embraced by the community

‘I would like to see men’s shed, their new shed, to be established in an area where the community will fully embrace you. I would hate to see conflict over this.’

Cr Hone said this particular parcel of land is prime, but it’s not prime for this purpose. ‘It is prime real estate. It is zoned green space, and the residents there have fought tooth and nail to keep this green space, and they have been through the ringer over and over again.

‘In fact, they were awarded to get their green space back, and that motion was rescinded, and then we had to go back to council again. So these guys are like, “Oh, here we go again”. You know, they’ve had enough. And I just think we, as a council, we need to honour the decision that we made at the end of last year, which was to return this to green space and let sleeping dogs lie.

‘There’s history there. It’s not in your favour to pursue this, but I will support you in pursuing men’s shed in a better location, and I believe that there are a few other options on the table at the moment.’

Another location

Cr James Owen said there is another suitable location on federal land. ‘I’ve had some conversations… it would be more out of the way and better suited to this location.’

He went on to say, ‘The community were initially on board, and for a number of reasons, which I might not state publicly now, they’re going cold on the idea, and at a high level, that’s about how this has been approached, I think.

‘The other thing that I find staggering is this is a motion that’s going up from the mayor, who has done everything she can to oppose men’s sheds over her whole time on council. When you look at what happened in Pottsville and the fight from some councillors to oppose the men’s shed there, and knock it back until Cr Byrnes saw sense and realised how important it was for the community.

‘It’s been commented about the Pottsville Men’s Shed – “it’s OK, the mayor is happy now to go down there pose for photos, etc, but never wanted to support them in the first place”. So the irony of putting this motion up now, to support this men’s shed – is a great idea, but wrong location.’

A point of order

Cr Nola Firth raised a point of order, saying that Cr Owen’s comments were ‘unfavorable personal remarks about another Council official.’

Cr Cherry said she would uphold the point of order. ‘I would ask you, Councillor Owen, to restrict your comments to talking about the men’s shed and and not my actions. Thank you.’

Cr Owen said he was stating facts that if councillors wanted to look at the voting pattern… A few minutes of argy-bargy followed before Cr Rhiannon Brinsmead began her comments by supporting Cr Owen’s comments.

‘I’m going to echo the irony that Cr Owen raised, about you putting forward a NoM on Men’s Sheds, Madam Mayor. I won’t go into detail, but there is a very documented history that relates to the Pottsville Men’s Shed, and we’re all aware of it, and the Pottsville community is, and they’ve contacted me over this NoM to speak to me about it again.

‘Further to that, I also recall that you didn’t actually want to return this land to the community for community green space. So, there’s a number of ironies to begin with. However, I will state on record I am a fierce advocate for men’s sheds, and my record speaks very clearly to that. And you can speak to the Pottsville Men’s Shed and the Tweed Men’s Shed with respect to how much support councillor Owen and I have given to both of those respective organizations.’

Return site to community green space

Cr Brinsmead continued, ‘The issue that I have with this site, my position regarding this site, has always been to return this site to community green space, and I am aware of another site, and my understanding is that this other site may also have current infrastructure, which will reduce footprint by way of development, as well.

‘I think to Cr Hone’s point – there is not a unanimous echo of support for this from residents that live directly adjacent and within the proximity to this site, and they have made representations to me – I note the correspondence that we received from the Kingscliff ratepayers, but again, to the point that Cr Hone made, they represent their members, but they don’t represent the broader community, and I can assure you that the residents in that proximity, whilst I’m sure there are some members, the majority will not be members of that of that organization, Kingsliff is a big community, a big growing community, and I think sometimes we do have to be very cautious about this sentiment that organisations are representing the community.’

Cr Brinsmead said she would like to see other sites investigated prior to a Plan of Management, which will involve a significant amount of council staff time to put this document together. ‘I think there’s potential for the other sites.

‘I think the establishment of a Kingscliffe Men’s Shed is an absolute must for the Kingscliff community, but I don’t support it on on this site.’

We all love men’s sheds

Cr Nola Firth said it was clear to her that all councillors in the meeting are supportive of men’s sheds. ‘The discussion is about sites. I will be supporting this motion, because this is about, in fact, asking the community what they think about it. It’s not imposing… it’s actually giving us a chance to ask the community what they want, the whole community, and it is a whole community that needs to be consulted, I believe, so I will be supporting the motion.’

The debate continued with Cr Hone reminding councillors that the initial community consultation, ‘the very extensive, very expensive community consultation process’, gave people options to vote on how they would like the green space used if the pods were removed.

There was a continuing heated debate about the Code of Meeting Practice and the conversation dissolved into tit-for-tat arguments until Cr Owen suggested, ‘Let’s just move on’. Which they did…

The mayor called on councilors to vote and it was drawn at three-three. It came down to the casting vote of the mayor, who voted for the motion, which was carried with Crs Brinsmead, Hone and Owen against.

The Kingscliff ratepayers

This morning The Echo spoke to President of the Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association, Peter Newton, who said the Association was happy with last night’s result.

From day one, KRPA has supported considering, amongst other things, the rehabilitation of the site and options for the site as it moves forward, one of those being the consideration for the development of the Kingscliff Men’s Shed on a part of that site.

‘Council have voted to take this to the community for consultation, which was the whole intention of the mayor’s motion,’ said Mr Newton.

‘The community needs to have a say on allowing a men’s shed, or not, on the site.’

Mr Newton said it was hard to hear some of the comments raised in the council discussion.

Disappointing and disrespectful comments

‘A number of comments were raised by some councillors that were disappointing and disrespectful, and took away from the actual item at hand, and had nothing to do with the item at hand. We found that disappointing. And it was disappointing for the men’s shed group.’

Mr Newton said the association was in support of a men’s shed on the site. ‘That’s something that our members determined earlier this year in relation to considering the rehabilitation of the site from the temporary accommodation pods.

‘But we also know that due process needs to be applied and, so, it’s not a matter of just supporting the site and supporting the men’s shed and off it goes, it’s actually supporting the due process that needs to be applied. And one part of this due process is the community to be asked, which was the purpose of last night’s motion – the community to be asked for their opinion, and that’s a good thing, and that’s what’s about to happen.

‘The community will tell Council “this is a good idea” or “not a good idea”, but from the ratepayers perspective, we certainly support the Men’s Shed organization in pursuing this and for consideration of a men’s shed on that site.’