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THE TWEED
BUSINESS
www.tweedecho.com.au Volume 3 #46 Thursday, July 28, 2011 Advertising and news enquiries: Phone: (02) 6672 2280 editor@tweedecho.com.au adcopy@tweedecho.com.au 21,000 copies every week CAB AUDIT
BUSINESS
page 9
LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Mayor lashes out on Kingy erosion Steve Spencer
An angry Tweed mayor says it is time his council received some urgent help from the NSW government as high tides and big swells continue to devour the Kingscliff foreshore. ‘I would like to have been putting in a rock wall [which requires NSW government approval] yesterday. We need to speed things up. ‘I’m getting very apprehensive at the moment.’ Cr Skinner said that with the exception of a phone call from Tweed MP Geoff Provest, there had been little communication with the NSW government. ‘We sent letters last week to Provest and [NSW government minister Don] Page and we haven’t heard anything back as yet,’ said a clearly frustrated Cr Skinner, who visited the erosion zone on Monday.
Help sought from NSW Disaster Relief Fund ‘I feel we deserve consideration for some help from the NSW Disaster Relief Fund. ‘The desire is to have a permanent solution. My preference would be for a solid [rock] wall that would be covered with sand.’ Earthmoving vehicles drove onto the beach at low tide as workers tried to shore up the giant sandbags being used to protect the crumbling foreshore and stop further damage from big tides and large swells. Many of the bags are now metres offshore after failing to stop the ocean’s fury during the weekend. The council wants to spend $6 million on a long-term solution to the
erosion, but needs half that money from the NSW government. The erosion zone has also become a mecca for sightseers, as trees and large chunks of the council-owned caravan park plunge into the sea. About 15 metres of the park has disappeared in the last week, adding to another 15 metres lost over the past month.
Golfers on the green
‘Exciting, but also sad’ Lyndall Bensley said she travelled from Cabarita with her children every day to watch the erosion. ‘Natural disasters are exciting, but it is also really sad,’ she said. ‘On Saturday night we were watching trees fall into the ocean at high tide. The council had put up danger signs and ribbon but by Saturday morning the signs had been washed in and the ribbon was just dangling in the wind. ‘The sandbags are just not working.’ Caravan park guests Barry and Estelle Slater, from Brisbane, said they watched as about five metres of foreshore disappeared on Saturday. ‘We saw metres of ground fall away and trees crash into the surf,’ said Mr Slater. ‘The worst erosion was on Saturday when they had to move the fence back, but there were still more trees falling in on Sunday.’ The Tweed Shire Council last week agreed to outlay another $255,000 to erect a 70-metre-long double wall of sandbags to protect the caravan park from further erosion, on top of the $140,000 spent on sandbags in front of the surf club. ■ See picture, page 2
Jeff Mason, of Gympie (with flag), Bob Webster, of Camden, and Bruce Walker of Merimbula, who was fresh off a hole-in-one at the 14th during play on Tuesday at Murwillumbah Golf Club’s annual Veteran Golfers Week of Golf, which has drawn over 150 players from all over Australia and New Zealand for the four-day event. The club’s veteran golfers secretary Garry Thorburn said visitors commented on the condition and scenic qualities of the course with its panoramic views to Mt Warning. The event winds up tomorrow (Friday) at 6.30pm with a presentation dinner at the club. Photo Jeff ‘Ambrose’ Dawson
CBD plan sparks highrise slum fears Steve Spencer
Fears are growing that a master plan drafted by the NSW government to set building heights in Tweed Heads may transform many of its streets into highrise slums, and planners have rejected calls for a public inquiry into the issue. Tweed councillors voted last week to re-exhibit the ‘Tweed Heads Vision’ document but will not hold public meetings – opting instead for oneon-one information sessions between landholders and council planners. The NSW Department of Planning
hijacked responsibility for re-designing the Tweed Heads CBD from Tweed Shire Council four years ago, using a town planning template it has imposed on other centres, including Port Macquarie and Wollongong. But many fear that instead of revitalising the ailing CBD, the lack of staggered height limits in the plan could see many towers built without scenic views – turning Tweed Heads into a highrise slum with streets cloaked in shadow for much of the day. They say the new plans are almost a carbon copy of the controversial Tweed Heads LEP (local environment
plan) 2000 which was adopted by a pro-development council in 1999. Tweed Heads Residents’ and Ratepayers Association president Laurie Ganter said the ‘Tweed Heads Centre Vision’ ignored a master plan for the town which was drawn up in 2004, following a public backlash against the LEP 2000 and its disregard for view lines and shadowing. ‘It seems to be much the same as the 2000 LEP: a lot of 10-storey buildings where the residents can look out at each other but don’t have any scenic views,’ Mr Ganter said.
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