THE TWEED www.tweedecho.com.au Volume 4 #2 Thursday, September 8, 2011
SEPTEMBER 10 2011 BANGALOW SHOWGROUNDS
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LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Flood fears prompt a last-ditch stand Steve Spencer
Jazz workshop inspires youngsters Albert Elzinga
Students from four primary schools in the Tweed joined jazz trumpet legend John Hoffman for a music workshop at Murwillumbah’s Civic Centre last Friday. Highlight of the morning was a collaboration between Mr Hoffman’s band and young saxophone player, Murwillumbah Primary School student Tully Anderson, who recently played with the Junior State Concert Band at the Opera House in Sydney. The workshop was the latest edition of an initiative sponsored by the Tweed Valley Jazz Club which started some 15 years ago with the aim of inspiring and encouraging
Trumpeter and music teacher John Hoffman and student Tully Anderson hit the high notes at last week’s workshop. Photo Albert Elzinga
budding young musicians. A mix of professional musicians and students from the Brisbane Conservatorium of Music and Griffith University enthralled the around 300 sixth-grade students with their renditions of some surprisingly recognisable jazz music. Mr Hoffman and his band managed to achieve the near impossible and held the kids’ attention for close to three hours.
Infectious love for music His infectious love for his music and skills as a lecturer at the Brisbane Conservatorium of Music and at Griffith University won over even the most tone-deaf of students and turned the civic centre into one big sound studio. The kids were singing, humming and drumming along to the band
and showed an enthusiasm normally reserved for video games and television. The event finished with a question-and-answer session fielded by drummer Warren Whitaker who entertained the kids with his sense of humour and his affection for his instrument. If inspiration and encouragement were the goals of this workshop, Mr Hoffman and the Tweed Valley Jazz Club can rest assured: on their way out, many of the students talked about taking up playing an instrument. Mr Whitaker’s passionate talk about his drums may result in numerous neighbours suffering the sounds of kids rehearsing in the garage, but may also have inspired the next Ringo Starr to take up his favourite instrument.
Hastings Point residents have sent out a last-ditch appeal for locals to speak out against a proposed controversial creekside housing estate which is feared could cause major flooding to a large part of the small seaside village. Residents and town planners have warned homes along Creek Street would be inundated by floodwaters held up by almost four metres of fill on which the developer plans to build 45 homes on the site near the creek estuary. The proprosal for the development known as Lot 156 Creek Street, which has been mired in controversy and stirred locals up for years, is now being assessed by the state government and the deadline for public submissions closed earlier this week. But the NSW Planning Department has allowed Tweed Council an extension so councillors can listen to residents’ concerns at the community access meeting next Thursday, September 15. Hastings Point Progress Association has urged as many residents as possible to attend the meeting. The association warns that if the project wins NSW government approval, nearly four metres of fill will be dumped on Lot 156, stopping water from escaping directly into Christies Creek and flooding homes along Creek Street. Association secretary Julie Boyd said residents had been given little time to write submissions to the NSW Department of Planning, with some discovering they had just over a week to organise their objections to the new estate. Developers want to lay 3.9 metres of fill and build 45 houses on around
a third of the 28-hectare site, which runs along Christies Creek near where it meets Cudgera Creek. Ms Boyd said there was little doubt the raising of the floodplain would create a damming effect which would prevent floodwaters escaping from properties along Creek Street. She said some of those most at risk where elderly residents living in the retirement section of the North Star Holiday Village. ‘It’s called Creek Street because when it rains it become like a creek,’ said Ms Boyd, who has lived in the village for 10 years.
‘Creating a dam’ ‘Putting nearly four metres of fill on the land is basically creating a dam. That will push water in all directions and endanger homes. ‘Even minor rain events can have a big effect in the area. Groundwater under Hastings Point is very close to the surface.’ Ms Boyd said a site-specific flood study needed to be done to show potential flood heights caused by the raising of the floodplain. She said the town’s stormwater drains regularly flood with saltwater during king tides. She also criticised NSW Planning for making it ‘as difficult as possible’ for residents to file submissions, with many getting just 10 days’ notice. She the department’s complicated emailing process did not help. Tweed Shire planners share some of the Progress Association’s concerns about flooding and potential environmental damage. The shire’s chief planner Vince Connell said council had successfully sought an extension of time for its submissions to the department, after
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