THE TWEED
The
Page 18
Arts
www.tweedecho.com.au Volume 4 #16 Thursday, December 15, 2011 Advertising and news enquiries: Phone: (02) 6672 2280 editor@tweedecho.com.au adcopy@tweedecho.com.au 21,000 copies every week CAB AUDIT
LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Push for Cudgen cop shop site under fire Staff reporters
Playground sets new standards Luis Feliu
Tumbulgum families now have an added attraction to mix and play in after this week’s official opening of an innovative new nature-based playground in the riverside village. Tweed mayor Barry Longland told families attending Tuesday’s opening the playground was a ‘wonderful example of how a community can come together to work with a number of levels of government to help themselves’. The playground, on a previously unused parcel of land on Government Road behind the community hall, has been designed, according to Tweed Shire Council, to activate a small, restricted space for a wide range of age groups. Cr Longland said ‘it may not be a large space, but there is ample opportunity here for nature-based play as
Saige Stringer enjoys the new swing at Tumbulgum, watched by her mum Tammy Richardson (right). Photo Jeff ‘I Swing’ Dawson
well as fun with the fixed playground equipment. ‘Nature-based play is more about engaging with nature, digging around, moving rocks and logs, wandering through garden beds, where children have to make up their own games and are encouraged to be independent, all within a safe environment,’ he said. The Tumbulgum Playgroup took the running to council to build the new facility two years ago, and council in turn encouraged them to seek out government funding to help with park costs.
$15,000 govt grant The Tumbulgum Community Association and Tweed MP Geoff Provest also pitched in and the group was successful in its application for $15,000 from the Community Building Partnership program. Cr Longland said the village community then also raised over $3,000 towards the project through trivia nights and lamington drives, and a local donation of $10,000. ‘This funding and the local groups’
dedication and motivation was the starting point for a playground design,’ he said, adding the playgroup members had a major input into the design. The playground’s undulating forms allow for a small scooter track which runs the perimeter of the playground and will test children’s stability and confidence as they manoeuvre up and down the pathway, avoiding the pitfalls of garden beds and large rocks. A council spokesperson said the plantings in the playground area also reflected a move towards sustainability in playground design, with the use of fruit trees to show children where fruit comes from. ‘As they watch over time, the fruit trees flower, then turn to small seeds, before producing orange edible fruit,’ the spokesperson said. Rosemary and other fragrant plants have also been used to work on the five senses, to be more tactile with nature and understand the sense of smell. The new playground is proposed to be called ‘Junction Park’, after the original name of Tumbulgum village.
A slice of prime agricultural land at Cudgen is back on the agenda as a location for a new police station less than 12 months after it was vetoed by the former Labor government because of its unique farmland status. A combined chamber of commerce deputation, including recently deposed mayor Kevin Skinner, visited Parliament on Friday to ask the police minister to consider sites other than Kingscliff for the proposed new Tweed-Byron command centre. But Liberal Party councillor Joan van Lieshout says it appears to be another backdoor bid by local National Party figures to rezone the state significant farmland which has links to former long-serving Nationals MP Don Beck. Cr Skinner confirmed that the Cudgen site was among the handful canvassed during the unheralded visit to the minister’s office, but says he did nothing more than ‘endorse’ a council resolution passed last month. The resolution, spearheaded by vet-
eran National Party councillor Warren Polglase, called on the minister to ditch the proposed Kingscliff site and to reexamine the five sites already identified by his department. Council staff were ordered to prepare reports on four sites: the controversial Cudgen site, a nearby site at the corner of Cudgen Road and Tweed Coast Road, RTA land at Chinderah and RTA land near the Clothiers Creek interchange. Councillors will hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss which of the four options to pursue. The region’s top cops declared four of the sites unsuitable but plumped for the Cudgen land which was acquired by the Kingscliff Land Company (KLC) in 2004 from Mr Beck’s wife and her sisters for $4.5 million. The company, whose directors now include Mr Beck, also offered a further $5 million if it could be rezoned for urban purposes. The police made Kingscliff a surprise choice after Tweed planners and the former government rejected the continued on page 6
New land use precedent ‘already set’ Tweed Heads business chamber president Rory Curtis has rejected claims that building the police centre at Cudgen would set a precedent for further development along the prime agricultural land plateau. Environmentalists fear any rezoning of the Cudgen land will lead to a cluster of further rezonings around it and the beginning of the end of the plateau’s food-bowl future. But Mr Curtis said it would not be setting a precedent because Kingscliff High School and the TAFE had already been built on similarly-zoned land on the Cudgen plateau. He said the Cudgen site was ‘a
mere three per cent of the actual lot size’ and that ‘real farmers’ in that area ‘left ages ago’. ‘The media must take the Becks’ interest out of the equation; they own 21 per cent of the land and if you want to think about it logically, based on an over-inflated price of $5 million for the entire 38-hectare site, three per cent of the 1.15 hectare site equals $31,500. It’s not about the money, that’s for sure!’ he told The Echo. He said the study had selected the 1.15ha site ‘as it’s on soil that has being identified as non-contiguous and not technically part of protected farming land even though it had a 1b1 zoning’.
Beachside Beachside living living at at it's it's best! best!
00 $$ BBonounsus 55,0,k0akgaege cc fufrunritnuitruerepapa 20. 12. ne12 30 Ju 30neJu20 emttlen emtsenbyts by for alfol rsealttll se
Enjoy Enjoya arelaxed relaxedlifestyle lifestylewith withpeople peopleofofsimilar similarinterests. interests.
With With22bed bedunits unitsfrom from$$265,000 265,000 we've we'vemade maderetirement retirementliving livingaffordable! affordable!
Furnished Furnisheddisplay displayunits unitsavailable availablefor forviewing. viewing.Call Call(02) (02)6670 66704000 4000ororvisit visittricare.com.au tricare.com.au <echowebsection=Local News>
TRI11075_TE_HP_88x260
TRI11075_TE_HP_88x260
Why Whynotnotmake makethethebeach beachyour yourbackyard backyardtoday! today!