Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association Inc

06/06/2026

***Draft Growth Management, Housing and Employment Strategy (GMHES)***
Members and friends….Last Monday’s general meeting of Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association hosted a presentation and discussion of the Tweed Shire Council Draft Growth Management, Housing and Employment Strategy (GMHES). This draft of the strategy (which was endorsed by Councillors at their 21 May meeting) will soon be placed on public exhibition for community feedback in order to finalise into development of the final Strategy.

Our special guests, Mayor Chris Cherry and Councillor Nola Firth provided background into the GMHES project’s overall progress over the last few years and importantly, strong and informative insight into the key elements of the current draft.

Highly regarded ecology and biodiversity scientist (and Council’s authority in this area for many years) Dr Mark Kingston, joined the discussion and provided an expert perspective into the impacts to consider in implementing a policy of second dwellings on rural properties – a key matter for the Shire over some years and provided for in the draft strategy.

We were also joined by many of our community Association colleagues from across the Shire representing the ‘Tweed Communities Alliance’.

This current draft of the GMHES is a particular improvement on what has been presented to the community in past iterations. The draft clearly has taken on board the strong and consistent community feedback on many key elements that was provided during the project’s consultation and submission stages.

Questions do remain in a number of areas, including infrastructure capacity impacting the ability of the Shire to meet the goals of the GMHES, Shire and community wide impacts of second dwellings on rural properties, the looming impact of the NSW Government’s planning reforms and more.

In this regard, community feedback is absolutely critical to shape a final strategy which will reflect the housing and employment growth needs of our Shire until 2041 – while at the same time, not compromise on the long held tenets which go to the heart of our character, amenity and liveability.

We would urge all community members to consider the draft and provide your thoughts when it goes to exhibition. Council will advise the exhibition period soon and the Association will also keep our members and friends informed, as will our colleagues from the Tweed Communities Alliance.
Mayor Chris Cherry Councillor Reece Byrnes - Tweed Shire Councillor James Owen Tweed Greens Kimberly Hone Tweed Shire Council

19/05/2026

Fyi members and friends - GMHS is on the agenda

📅 Council Meeting – Thursday 21 May
🕚 From 11 am
📍 Tweed Heads Administration Office

Our next Council meeting will be livestreamed, giving you the opportunity to watch the decision‑making process in action.

Tune in live and access the agenda and related documents at the link below:
👉 Watch the livestream + view agenda:
https://brnw.ch/21x2Bxc

Stay informed and see first-hand the wide range of issues Councillors consider as part of their role.

18/05/2026

FYI members and friends

30/04/2026

Hi members and friends...please see the below from Mayor Chris Cherry and Tweed Shire Council. this is a great update on the matters covered and outcomes from last Council meeting. Council meetings themselves are also well worth a view as you can see and hear first-hand the detailed input from Councill staff and how our elected representatives consider, discuss and decide on matters - next meeting 21 May.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HKHUBTr6x/

17/03/2026

Today’s Echo Publications members and friends. Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association Inc supports the Tweed Shire Council report and has asked Councillors to endorse at their 19 March meeting

Tweed Shire Council staff have flagged major issues with plans by developer, Bells Boulevard Pty Ltd, for a five-storey mixed-use building proposal at 4-8 Bells Boulevard (the corner of Gunnamatta Avenue, Kingscliff).

11/03/2026

**UPDATE - Bells Boulevard Proposed Development**

Members and friends, many of you will be aware that all submissions for the proposed Bells Boulevard development are now available on the NSW Planning Portal. The proponent is required to provide a response to these submissions by 13 April 2026.

Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association (KRPA) President has spoken to NSW Planning this morning to confirm the following:
- The relatively new ‘Housing Delivery Authority’ (HDA) ‘rapid assessment framework’ process will be used to assess and determine the application (it is too early in the process for even approximate timings).
- The Independent Planning Commission (IPC) do not have a role in the HDA process.
- The ‘consent authority’ will be the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces (Paul Scully MP), or his delegate (Deputy Secretary NSW Planning).
- No further community engagement in the process unless the proponent is required to make ‘substantial amendments’.

While NSW Planning will provide the Minister a summary of submissions in their assessment report, please consider writing to the Minister to directly express your concerns about the proposal, particularly the impact of the requested 54% increase in our building height standard.
https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/ministers/minister-for-planning-and-public-spaces

Also of note is the Tweed Shire Council draft submission, which is available to read on the NSW Planning Portal (under submissions/comment). Our Council planning officers have provided a comprehensive report which is supportive of many community concerns. The draft Council report is being presented to Councillors for endorsement at next Council meeting, Thursday 19 March. Please consider emailing each of our Councillors to ask that they endorse the report.

Members of the public can also register to speak to Councillors at the ‘Public Forum’ held prior to each Council meeting. You can also hear the discussion by watching the Council meeting live or listening to the recorded ‘live-stream’ at a later date.
https://www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/council/councillors-meetings/council-meetings

KRPA will keep you advised as this proceeds and more information comes to hand. In the meantime, KRPA members will receive more detail via email shortly. If you’re not a member and want to find out more about joining, keep up to date on key issues and the power of a strong community voice, please contact our secretary (Liv) at: [email protected]
Mayor Chris Cherry Councillor Reece Byrnes - Tweed Shire Tweed Greens Councillor James Owen Geoff Provest MP Janelle Saffin - Member for Lismore Justine Elliot MP https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/mixed-use-development-bells-boulevarde-kingscliff

Construction of a five-storey mixed use building including: • Ground floor retail • Ground floor residential • Levels 1-4 residential • Two affordable housing units • Basement parking • Landscaping, communal open space & swimming pool

05/03/2026

Below fyi members and friends. You can also submit a question or an issue to be raised via Geoff Provest MP office - useful if you can’t get there because of work etc.

Tweed Shire Council, Tweed-Byron Police District and I will be attending a community meeting about e-bikes on Friday 13 March at 9.30am at the Tweed Heads Civic and Cultural Centre.
To register your attendance, please contact my office. Details and more information below 👇

12/02/2026

Fyi members and friends

⚠️ The Tweed Emergency Dashboard provides a 24/7 source of real-time emergency information for residents, businesses and visitors to the Tweed.

✅ It connects you to information from local emergency services, Tweed Shire Council, ABC radio and the Bureau of Meteorology - making it easy for you to find information when you need it.

ℹ️ Visit the Tweed Emergency Dashboard now at emergency.tweed.nsw.gov.au and bookmark it or save it to your home screen.

💦 You can also check if a road near you is flooded on one of our 12 flood monitoring cameras at https://brnw.ch/21wNCek

11/02/2026

*** Bells Boulevarde Proposed Development - Your Community Voice Needed***

Happy new year members and friends! Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association Inc is moving into 2026 community matters which of course have started with a rush with the Podia Bells Boulevarde SSD now on public exhibition on the nsw planning portal.
https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/mixed-use-development-bells-boulevarde-kingscliff

Many of you would have seen the fb post (link below) from Leanne Hayward which directly puts the matters related to this proposed development, particularly in relation to exceeding the maximum height limits of 13.6m by a whopping 4.4m!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1877HwrR4X/?mibextid=wwXIfr

If this development was in Tweed Heads, the Goldie, Cooly etc, it’d be great news. But it’s not, it’s on the tweed coast and importantly in our wonderful part of the world which is protected from over development by the hard (and continually) fought for over decades height limits.

So, the development does provide an attractive mixed used residential and business (shops) precinct with a diversity of residential unit types and sizes. Questions remain on the genuineness of the so-called ‘affordable’ component, whether or not the development will provide actual housing or simply more investment points facilitating the scourge of short-term rentals and of course infrastructure impacts.

More importantly though, the developers, knowing the height limits, are riding on the back of the nsw gov housing priorities to seek approval and justification for an (at least) 18m five storey building (which would be the largest in the Shire outside of Tweed Heads).

Should this proposal get though at the 18m height then it will be the thin edge of the wedge for ongoing, inappropriate development across the Tweed and particularly the coast, which is also protected from such development by our planning frameworks including the North Coast Regional Plan.

So, please take a look at the proposal and if you don’t agree with the breaching of our hard fought for height limits, lodge an objection to nsw planning. It doesn’t need to say much, even if you may think the overall project has merit, but clearly object to any trashing of height limits for the sake of the developers pocket. We can actually have balanced, needed development and retain the very things that go to the heart of character and liveability of the tweed coast.

The more community voices on this the better and bigger the impact, tell your friends and family - take ten minutes out of their day and lodge an objection by cob 17 February.

KRPA members will receive more detail via email shortly. If you’re not a member and want to find out more about joining and the power of a strong community voice, please contact our secretary (Liv) at: [email protected]

In the meantime, again, consider the proposal and please get your objections in by 17 Feb https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/mixed-use-development-bells-boulevarde-kingscliff

Mayor Chris Cherry Councillor Reece Byrnes - Tweed Shire Tweed Greens Councillor James Owen Janelle Saffin - Member for Lismore Geoff Provest MP Paul Scully MP NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Tweed Shire Council Echo PublicationsTweed Valley Weekly

Construction of a five-storey mixed use building including: • Ground floor retail • Ground floor residential • Levels 1-4 residential • Two affordable housing units • Basement parking • Landscaping, communal open space & swimming pool

10/12/2025

Today’s council meeting details. Always worth watching live or the replay at your leisure. Either way you do get to see how Shire business is done and particularly how our Councillors perform.