Susanna Freymark
Sixty people gathered on the grass next to Elm Street Bridge, Evans Head to protest the Iron Gates development on Saturday, February 28.
There were several speakers before some of the group marched down Oak Street. 
Jocelyn Reese said people needed to write letters to continue the protest against the development.
Iron Gates has been a decades long protest. In June 2024, residents were at the site when the NSW Land and Environment Court was assessing the development application for 121 residential lots.
The Land and Environment Court upheld an appeal by Goldcoral against the Northern Regional Planning Panel’s refusal of the DA for the Iron Gates Development at 240 Iron Gates Drive.
The project was allowed to proceed with strict conditions.
Speakers at the protest on Saturday urged those present to write to council to make sure those conditions are met.
Stop Iron Gates secretary Janelle Saville said the group was focused on the poor condition of the bridge on Iron Gates Drive that leads to the development.
“We want to see the remediation orders from 1987 enforced,” she said.
Richmond Valley Council’s general manager Vaughan Macdonald said the development consent and conditions issued by the Land and Environment Court were available on the council website. Read them here.
“Council’s Development & Certification team is providing services to assess required applications for approvals and certificates to ensure requirements are met before they are issued to allow works to proceed,” Mr Macdonald said.
“We are dealing with this development in the same manner we do every other development across the Richmond Valley and will continue to do so.”
Long time opposer to Iron Gates Dr Richard Gates said the development was “more than a legal issue, it is a moral issue.”
In an ABC radio interview, Mr Macdonald was asked if Iron Gates was a solution to the housing shortage.
“Yes, it would be,” he said.
“Some people in the community are saying — just get on with it.”