THE TWEED Volume 2 #41 Thursday, June 24, 2010 Advertising and news enquiries: Phone: (02) 6672 2280 editor@tweedecho.com.au adcopy@tweedecho.com.au www.tweedecho.com.au
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LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Council backflips on illegal clearing Kate McIntosh
Tweed Shire Council has backed down on plans to pursue legal action over the alleged wilful destruction and illegal clearing of trees, including a sacred Aboriginal tree and other vegetation at the site of a proposed industrial estate near Pottsville. A council report has recommended against taking legal action on the matter in favour of a negotiated settlement with landowners Tagget. Council also deferred a decision on a revised rezoning proposal for the site exempting areas of environmental sensitivity, including illegally cleared land, pending further consultation on the matter. The recommendation follows legal advice received from council solicitors, the details of which are confidential and will not be made public.
Vegetation loss The report said the landowner had outlined measures to compensate for vegetation loss and that such steps would provide a better environmental outcome than legal recourse. The move is an apparent backflip on the matter which was referred to council’s solicitor Lindsay Taylor Lawyers last December. Greens Party councillor Katie Milne said the decision flew in the face of logic and could set a precedent for future cases involving illegal land clearing. ‘There is a public interest in prosecuting rather than just making a deal, it seems to me to be a legalistic loophole,’ Cr Milne said. The landowner is accused of wilfully destroying vegetation at the site, including the burning of a brush box tree recognised as hav-
ing significant Aboriginal heritage value. The destruction of the tree, which is subject to a council tree preservation order, is currently being investigated by the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECCW). Chief planner Vince Connell told The Echo council officers had drawn on their substantial expertise and professional judgement in forming their recommendations. ‘Officers are obliged to weigh up the technical merits of any legal advice provided and any wider policy or precedent implications, as well as the possible financial impacts to council and the Tweed ratepayers in any recommendation for substantive legal action,’ he said. No council decision has been made yet on the latest council report and legal action may still proceed, said Mr Connell. The revised rezoning application for the site was lodged by Planit Consulting on behalf of Heritage Pacific and does not name the landowner. Under the re-defined proposal, land containing vegetation of high ecological value, including the illegally cleared zone, will be preserved and revegetated. Mr Connell said council officers deemed the balance of the site suitable for the proposed industrial rezoning, but stressed the proposal would not proceed further until the issue of vegetation clearance had been adequately addressed. Council officers first discovered widespread destruction at the site on a compliance visit last July. Subsequent investigations revealed that a canopy of trees which covered
Performing arts festival a stairway to stardom Mime performer Ashlee Pollecutt from Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School at the Murwillumbah Festival of Performing Arts. One of the festival highlights will be the $2,000 Alton Budd Memorial vocal solo award which is part of the fabulous Saturday evening concert. Photo Jeff ‘Whiteface’ Dawson Tania Phillips
The Murwillumbah Civic Centre seems a long way from the West End of London or the opera houses of Europe or ballet studios of New York but for a growing number of artists it’s been a springboard to the big time. Over its long and illustrious 79year history the Murwillumbah Festival of Performing Arts, which began last weekend and will go through until July 15, has had its fair share of success stories. Former Murwillumbah boys, West End performer Jeremy Secomb, who is currently starring in the Priscilla Queen of the Desert stage play and David Hibbard, who is with the Australian and Queensland Opera companies after performing around the continued on page 2 world, are just two.
Proud of participants Long-time president Arthur Holmes, who is as proud of all the participants he’s seen come through the doors, said the event draws interest from all around. ‘We get performers from Newcastle to the Sunshine Coast, it used to be just a week long but now it goes from June 18 to July 15,’ he said. Numbers are up across the board this year, particularly in dancing. ‘We are going to have 391 troupes
of dancers this year, I get a lot of feedback and people say they love coming back here because it’s such a friendly festival. With such a long history, the event has some amazing generationalfamily stories. Already this year the speech section, which starts the festival and ended yesterday, has added to the history. Winner of the $1,000 JJ Richards scholarship for speech and drama, Dylan Graham, is carrying on a fine family tradition in the section. Arthur said his cousin Lachlan, now a local speech teacher whose pupils include Dylan, is a previous winner of the same prize. The focus now turns to music from today (Thursday), with opera star David Hibbard coming home to judge the bi-annual Alton Budd $2,000 classical singing contest on Saturday night.
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Then there’s Gold Coast-based dancers Aaron Smyth (Jacki Onassis Ballet Company in New York) and Claudia Dean (London Royal Ballet School). For many young performers, from speech to music and dance, the iconic event is their first taste of performing in front of a crowd.
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