Reflections Holiday Park management claim they have no power to relocate permanent sites that block the legally required buffer zone along Simpsons Creek in Terrace Park.
Reflections are required to protect and rehabilitate Simpsons Creek and provide the buffer zone along all the riverbank as specified in the 2014 plan of management (PoM) and the 2021 Land and Environment Court (L&EC) order. Moving residents off an eroding river bank is also an essential safety precaution.
No one is seeking to remove people from their homes merely to relocate permanent dwellings back from the riverbank so they can retain their waterfront sites.
Since 2007, Council licence conditions have required a 10m setback from the riverfront for all permanent cabins and dwellings in the holiday parks.
Setbacks are required from park boundaries including the buffer zone boundary.
All dwellings in Crown Reserve caravan parks are required to meet building standards and be mobile.
If the dwellings are too old and dilapidated to move, as claimed by Reflections, they are non-compliant and must be repaired or replaced.
Compliance is Council’s responsibility and Reflections is legally required to act on their directions.
Many permanent residences have already been relocated within Terrace Park by previous manager, Steve Edmonds. The Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 (updated in 2024) offers multiple options for relocating sites and dwellings to undertake rehabilitation works.
Park management has the power to act.
The existing fenced buffer zone is not the minimum 3m wide in many areas and is currently obstructed by barricades and overflowing camp sites (which is not permitted, yet it continues to occur).
Surely it is Council’s responsibility to ensure Reflections comply with park regulations, licence conditions and the L&EC orders.
Why is Reflections allowed to operate while refusing to comply with court orders, and without a revised PoM that includes their proposed new works?
Michele Grant, Ocean Shores
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