THE TWEED SHIRE Volume 1 #23 Thursday, February 12, 2009 Advertising and news enquiries: Phone: (02) 6672 2280 Fax: (02) 6672 4933 editor@tweedecho.com.au adcopy@tweedecho.com.au www.tweedecho.com.au
pages 18 & 19 LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Another stoush Save me! at Hastings Point
Ken Sapwell
World War Two Bomber Command survivor Vic Brill (above) stood his ground when a truck began nudging into a group of fellow protestors at Hastings Point. The 90-year-old former navigator with the famous 463 Lancaster squadron, which suffered the highest losses of any in RAF command, showed time had not diminished the bravery needed to fly the flakfilled skies over Germany. Mr Brill, who was finally pulled aside by others worried about his safety, says he feels he’s been pitched into a new war – one to save his peaceful village lifestyle from developers apparently intent on trying to beat tough new planning laws before they’re implemented. ‘I spent four year fighting
to preserve democracy but I believe our democratic rights are being whittled away,’ he said of the latest front in the ongoing war to save the fragile Cudgera Creek from overdevelopment. It involves a seven hectare area on the northern side of the creek where developer, Walter Elliott Holdings (WEH), wants to build a resort and 57 houses. A development application has been in the hands of the NSW Planning Department for nearly two years awaiting a decision after the Minister usurped planning controls from the council because of the sensitive nature of the site. But residents claim the developer is trying to start the proposed subdivision by stealth by trucking in thousands of tonnes of fill to create an extensive access road
after somehow winning Tweed council approval to build a single dwelling on the site. WEH director, Scott Elliott, has denied the claim, saying he is simply building a holiday house which he and his family may use. Tweed Village Alliance president Julie Boyd says the area where the fill is being dumped was illegally filled by a former owner and was responsible for worsening flooding problems in a caravan park and homes in Creek Street. She said residents were unaware that council’s building staff had approved the house until trucks began rumbling through their village last week. ‘The first we knew anything about this was when convoys of up to 62 trucks a day started bringing in huge amounts of fill,’ she said. ‘The council’s building unit claims it was unaware of the site’s contentious history when it gave approval, apparently without the full knowledge of senior planning staff. ‘Strangely enough the access road the developer is creating is the same as that for the huge resort and housing development now under consideration by the NSW Planning department.’ The residents won a minor victory when council staff Jenny Hayes cuddles a cute koala at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary last week. Ms Hayes says ordered the developer to these iconic creatures are threatened by the planned 4,500-home Kings Forest subdivision remove most of the fill from the southwest of Kingscliff and she has embarked on a campaign to protect them. Photo Jeff Dawson continued on page 2 See full story, page 2.
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