Court case between Brunswick Heads holiday park operators and council yet to be finalised after judge asks for a new document to be prepared

The court has heard concerns about what the outcome could mean for a population of endangered trees, but there has been conflicting evidence about how much they have declined.

Reflections Terrace Reserve holiday park in Brunswick Heads. Picture: Liana Boss

A Land and Environment Court dispute between the operators of a Brunswick Heads holiday park and the local council is yet to be resolved.

NSW Crown Holiday Parks Land Manager, trading as Reflections Holiday Parks Terrace Reserve, brought an appeal against Byron Shire Council over the deemed refusal of an application which sought permission for the ongoing operation of the camp ground and caravan park.

Terrace Reserve is one of three parks run by Reflection in Brunswick Heads.

A key contention between the parties is the park’s operations in the park’s southern precinct, which is home to a coastal cypress pine population.

Although judgment was expected to be handed down in late May, Justice Nicola Pain deferred her final orders, giving the parties time to file a new vegetation management plan.

“At issue is the use of the southern section as a camping ground,” Justice Pain said when the matter was before her on May 25.

“The council opposes that use because of ongoing serious harm to the coastal cypress pine forest community, an endangered ecological community under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.

“No issue arises in relation to the use of the northern and central precincts if I am satisfied about objections to complying with some requirements in the relevant local government regulation.”

The court heard the park, which has been operating for several decades, was managed by the council as a reserve trust manager until late 2006, when Crown Lands took over.

Justice Pain said the council argued the court should refuse Reflections’ application “to avert the threat of serious and irreversible harm to the coastal cypress pine endangered ecological community within the park”.

The court heard the coastal cypress pines had “a highly restricted distribution” and their population was estimated to have “declined by more than 77 per cent since European colonisation” and was threatened by a range of issues including encroachment, soil compaction and damage to roots.

Justice Pain said the council argued the use of areas within the tree protection zone and structural root zone was “causing stress to the existing trees” while “the continuous removal of trees due to perceived but unsubstantiated risk will result in the gradual removal of the existing trees”.

Justice Pain said the parties came to different conclusions as to the “scope and severity of the potential environmental damage caused by approval of the application”.

The park’s operations manager, Jennifer Scott, gave evidence Reflections had planted 459 trees across the areas its manages between 2013 and March 5 this year.

That area includes the Terrace Reserve park, Torakina Reserve, Simpsons Creek Reserve, Banner Park, Terrace Park, and the Ferry Reserve Foreshore and 309 of those trees were planted within the holiday park.

In the same time, 86 trees were removed across those areas, 24 of them from the park including 10 coastal cypress pines.

In her evidence, Ms Scott told the court Reflections “has done everything it can to minimise impact within the southern precinct” since about 2017.

The court heard although the southern precinct is used less intensely than other areas in the park, a ban on that area’s use “would be a significant economic impact if the applicant could not use the southern precinct”.

Steve Edmonds, CEO of NSW Crown Holidays Parks Land Manager, disputed a claim the pine population had declined since 2014 and gave evidence that a vegetation management plan could not be properly implemented “until the allowable site footprint for camping is known”.

Having ruled some of the council’s requirements of Reflections for the northern and central parts of the park – which Reflections opposed – “not necessary or reasonable”, Justice Pain said the remaining issue related to the southern precinct, to be subject to the new vegetation management plan.

She has effectively indicated her approval of the application “as it relates to the northern and central precincts”.