Susanna Freymark
Iron Gates has the go-ahead after decades of opposition – Goldcoral Pty Ltd has permission to build on the land next to Evans River.
It is a devastating decision for those Evans Head residents who have fought the development for so long.
The Land and Environment Court (LEC) determined that 121 community title residential lots can be built in stage 1 of the Iron Gates development.
Goldcoral put stage 2 on hold and submitted an amended development application that helped ease the decision for the court.
The court determination is a lengthy read which can be read here.
Evans Head resident Ian Rankin said the decision of the LEC is disappointing.
Mr Rankin hosts the Residents Against Iron Gates Facebook page
“I had faith in the process. I feel let down.”
He is still processing the decision.
The Northern Rivers Regional Planning Panel decided against Iron Gates in August 2022.
Then the case went to the Land and Environment Court.
During that process, Mr Rankin said, “The DA changed daily and it was hard to follow.”
The community has not seen or had access to the revised DA, he said.
Many residents against the Iron Gates development have met several times since the decision to discuss what to do next.
One of those residents, Dr Richard Gates has followed the Iron Gates development application closely.
“The advice I’m getting is this is a matter that must not go unchallenged,” he said.
Some of his concerns include the state of the bridge on the only access road in and out of the development site.
He is also concerned about the shelter-in-place that needs to be built to protect residents in disasters before the development even begins.
“Shelter-in-place has been approved by the LEC for flood and fire when in fact such shelters are only usually designed for floods,” Dr Gates said.
“No evidence was provided to the court, of which we are aware, which showed what the nature of the building would be and how it would protect the hundreds of residents who could be trapped by fire at this remote location in a designated highly fire prone zone.
“The fire reports we have seen have a disclaimer which basically says ‘all bets are off’ if there is a big uncontrolled fire.”
The land was zoned residential in 1983, and has continued to be zoned residential since that time, a point made by the chief judge in the case, Mr Gates said.
Iron Gates was put up for sale in late 2022 and taken off the market in early 2023.
“The whole process in the latest recent LEC hearing has been quite secretive and out of the public view,” Dr Gates said.
Evans Head resident Jocelyn Reese said a petition to the council was the next step.
She said about 40 people were at a recent meeting held in Evans Head.
“We’re gathering momentum,” she said.
“We had significant expertise come from out of the area to offer their support to us.”
Ms Reese said there were other campaigns such as the Wallum protest at Brunswick Heads and the Bentley anti-fracking campaigns that had been successful.
“We may have lost this battle but we haven’t lost the war,” Ms Reese said.
“We have hope and hope is a strategy”.”
Resident Tim Smith said it would be good to get 2000 plus signatures to show that the majority of the community is against Iron Gates development.
“Then we pass this over to the council for their consideration,” he said.
The petition can be signed here if you choose to do so.
The petition says:
We, the undersigned, petition the Mayor and Councillors of Richmond Valley Council to Appeal against the judgement of his Honour, Justice Preston on 31 July 2024, with regard to the above-named Development Application at 240 Iron Gates Drive, Evans Head, NSW 2473.
IndyNR.com does not know how many people support the development of Iron Gates. It is difficult to ascertain as many residents do not want to go on the record and declare this publicly.
The issue of developing this land has always been controversial and at times divisive within the community.
The fight isn’t over yet.
and then