Weapons seized and 3 charged following police pursuit south of Tweed Heads

By MARGARET DEKKER

A man and two teenage boys appeared in court last Friday, February 10, charged with traffic and property offences following an alleged cross-border pursuit in the state’s north on Thursday afternoon.

By SAMANTHA ELLEY

A good sized contingent of Broadwater residents attended an updated meeting, regarding the plans to develop flood prone land, last week.

Resident Jemma Donnelly said the 30-40 residents were able to ask questions of the representatives of the developers.

“The developers did well to try and answer the questions,” she said.

“They did put a lot on the council (such as) planned green spaces. They said ‘no’ but that’s because Richmond Valley Council won’t allow it.”

Concerns about the koala corridor were also addressed but while the developers said they had suggested building another koala corridor south of the development, council had rejected that idea as well.

Ms Donnelly said the developers had no answer for the accuracy of the flood studies done in the area but did acknowledge that stormwater drainage issues they had at another development site were addressed and wouldn’t be an issue at Broadwater.

“They acknowledged and agreed that their current development had issues with dust,” said Ms Donnelly.

“..that is a big concern if that development gets approved.”

Other information shared at the meeting included the height of the houses to be built.

“They are allowing nearly a metre above what legislation states house heights need to be to account for any higher flooding,” Ms Donnelly said.

“So the houses and development are going to be extremely high and our existing houses are going to be very low.”

A petition has been established for residents to have their say. Readers can go to change.org and type in ‘Broadwater koala’ to see the petition.

About 12.20pm on Thursday, 9 February 2023, officers attached to Tweed-Byron Police District commenced a pursuit of a stolen Mercedes SUV after it crossed the border from Queensland and allegedly failed to stop when directed to by police.

Road spikes were deployed at the Cudgen Road Tunnel, near Tweed Valley Way, before the vehicle stopped on the M1 Motorway at Cudgera Creek.

Three males from Queensland – aged 28, 17 and 16 – were arrested at the scene and several items were seized from the vehicle including two swords, a knife, tomahawk, cannabis, and cash.