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A recent campaign to protect koalas threatened by the proposed Kings Forest township development southwest of Kingscliff may have influenced the state’s planning authorities’ tough stand with the developer’s plans, according to the Tweed’s environmental watchdog group.
Property developer the Leda Group and its billionaire chief Bob Ell
have been bluntly told by NSW Planning Department officials to go back
and do their homework on a raft of key issues over the township for up
to 5,000 homes, such as fauna and flora, buffers, urban design, traffic
and access, flooding and Aboriginal cultural heritage.
In a letter leaked to media, the department’s head of major project
assessments, Chris Wilson, told Mr Ell late in April to provide much
more detailed information otherwise Planning Minister Kristina Keneally
may only offer concept approval for the project which would then be
subject to further and more rigorous detailed environmental assessment
and likely lead to a scaled down development.
Mr Wilson warned that any such concept approval would give no certainty
as to the yield or number of homes allowed or the layout of the
development and could even result in extra areas of open space or
conservation areas being required.
He said issues included concern about protection of koalas and other
threatened species, proposed densities of residential areas and the
location of the town centre.
Caldera Environment Centre co-ordinator Paul Hopkins told The Echo that
he felt heartened by the planning department’s attitude ‘because it
sounds like they’re being a lot tougher than one would think from a
planning department’.
‘Maybe the koala issue, which is popular with the public, has brought
it onto the radar and made it more prominent,’ Mr Hopkins said.
Koala campaign
‘The recent koala campaign may have paid some dividends in that more attention is being paid to them.
‘But there’s other important species in the southern part of the site
near the proposed golf course which I know serious ecologists have
trouble with, like small mammals and threatened birds.’
In his letter, Mr Wilson asked Leda, ‘How does the concept plan respond
sensitively to the areas of high-conservation value when it seeks to
rezone areas of land identified as endangered ecological communities
and threatened species habitat?’
He also questioned plans to reduce buffer zones with surrounding
farmland and asked where dog-proof fences would be provided for koalas.
The density of residential areas was also queried and he noted the town
centre would be ‘better placed further west’ rather than close to the
proposed Casuarina town centre.
Leda Development’s regional manager Reg van Rij on Tuesday declined to
comment on the issue, but said that ‘many meetings’ had been held with
planning department officials since the letter.
Devil in the detail
Mr Hopkins cautioned that any concept plans was ‘dangerous’ because the ‘devil is in the detail’.
‘As a town planner, I know concept plans are dangerous because once
given approval, there’s a tendency for developers to ratchet up the
yields as time progresses so it’s really better if they provide
detailed plans rather than a concept for approval or disapproval,’ he
said..
‘Densities are becoming very critical to developers who always say they
need higher densities or thousands more people to get the yield to make
it pay, so the problem is how to ensure threatened species are
protected if you have such high density.
‘Unfortunately these type of plans don’t ensure this, and it makes it very difficult to make an intelligent decision.’
Meanwhile, koala campaigner Jenny Hayes welcomed the call for Leda to
provide more detailed information, saying she hoped her Team Koala
campaign had had some effect in raising awareness of the endangered
colony of koalas on the 1,057-hectare site.
Ms Hayes said she had asked the same questions about the protection of
high-conservation value areas which the developer was seeking to rezone
and also favoured the suggested relocation of the town centre further
west ‘because more of the koala habitat was on the eastern part of the
site’.
‘I agree [with the planning department] that it is not appropriate for
areas of local open space to be given a dual function as wildlife
corridors. This current DA allows for dogs and cats, and I could
imagine a dog making short work of a koala while it tried to make its
way through a golf course,’ she said.
Ms Hayes said the plan did not respond sensitively to the areas of high
conservation value given that it sought to rezone areas of land
identified as endangered ecological communities and threatened species
habitat.
Details not provided
‘The department considered the koala plan of management was very
general and details were not provided in relation to many of the
identified actions.’
She said the developer’s plan gave ‘absolutely no direction as to where
the koala food trees and shelter trees are to be planted’ and was
unclear on how development of the land into a golf course would not
impact on wildlife.
‘I believe it will impact on our wildlife enormously. The sprays alone
used on a golf course will have a severe impact,’ she said.
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