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all residents to ensure there is no risk to life.

Ms Higginson said the petition raised legitimate concerns.

“This is gutsy and urgent community organising,” Ms Higginson said.

“Tearing down bushland and filling and burying complex wetland ecosystems is criminal in the face of the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

“The community is rightly concerned that developers are taking advantage of our broken planning laws so that they can make a profit.”

Ms HIgginson said the continued approval of these developments flies in the face of recent history in the area.

“To make matters worse this is development for housing, it is incomprehensible that after the floods we have been through in the Northern Rivers we could even contemplate putting more people in homes on these extremely low lying floodplains,” she said.

“It is dangerous and will have harmful impacts on people, property and the natural environment.”

“This is of great concern, potentially adversely impacting aquatic species and aquatic vegetation and can disrupt riverbed habitats, food and shelter for marine life,” Ms Cairns said.

“Yamba CAN Inc requests that if the applicants intend making application to dredge Oyster Channel to fill each of these developments that these documents are provided to council to be assessed and also be provided on exhibition to the community prior to approval of these developments.”

Ms Higginson, said the planning system needed to change to ensure community and environmental requirements were recognised.

“Our planning system is currently not fit for purpose and it is putting developers’ profits above local communities, their safety and our fragile coastal environments,” she said.

“We need to have a scientific, long term and strategic approach to land use on floodplains and at the moment in Yamba it is the community leading this charge calling to rezone this land for community recreation and biodiversity conservation.

“We now need the Minns Government to take the reins and stop these dangerous developments.”