City of Coffs Harbour: Council votes to endorse the draft Jetty Foreshores concept plan put forward by Mayor Paul Amos

The decades-long tussle over the iconic Coffs Harbour Jetty Foreshores shows no sign of easing, with council putting yet another marker down in a bid to keep the land in public hands. Here’s the latest.

The draft concept plan endorsed by council.

The decades-long tussle over the iconic Coffs Harbour Jetty Foreshores shows no sign of easing after council forged ahead with their bid to keep the land in public hands.

At Thursday’s meeting, City of Coffs Harbour Mayor Paul Amos put forward a draft concept plan that would see private residential development limited along the prized waterfront land.

The stretch of public land east of the railway has long been a cause of friction between the state government and City of Coffs Harbour.

Broadly speaking, the opposing camps are split between those who want to prioritise residential development, retail and restaurants, and those who look to preserving the space’s parkland.

The revised Coffs Harbour Jetty Foreshores master plan.

The tension between the two sides heated when Property and Development NSW revealing an imminent proposal to rezone the land.

Affordable housing in the area became a possibility following the election of a state Labor government who had committed to a statewide audit which would identify surplus public land for housing.

Adding to the friction, earlier this month, a bid by council to purchase the land was “rebuffed by NSW Minister for Lands and Property Steve Kamper in late January,” the council stated in a press release.

The draft concept plan for the space most recently endorsed by Coffs Harbour City Council on February 22, 2024.

Council had offered the state government $6.7 million for the land, as well as two blacks of land in the Coffs CBD which could have 14-storey high buildings.

Coffs MP Gurmesh Singh had a blunt assessment of the situation.

“A compulsory acquisition against the state government in this instance is highly unlikely to succeed,” he said.

“Any money that council spends in this endeavour could certainly have been spent elsewhere in these challenging times.”

Mayor Paul Amos (at right) has said the foreshore consultation process has been flawed since day one and has clashed with Coffs MP Gurmesh Singh (left).

This has not deterred Cr Amos who said the state government had indicated that it was looking for council to put forward a new proposal.

“The state government have put forward a land privatisation plan for the jetty foreshores, we are putting forward a public use and activation plan for our community,” he said at the recent council meeting.

Speaking to NewsLocal on Friday, Cr Amos suggested the state government had ignored the wishes of most people, who — he claimed — overwhelmingly opposed turning the site into a new high rise suburb.

The jetty foreshore has long been a passion project for Mayor Paul Amos who is pictured here in the Jetty High school musical.

However, at the most recent council meeting, not everyone was supportive of Cr Amos’ approach.

Councillor Rodger Pryce said council seemed to be forgetting the land is “actually owned by the people of NSW” and called the current approach “naive”

“We seem to be at loggerheads with the actual owner of the land,” Cr Pryce said.

“I think we should try and work with the state government instead of banging our head against the wall.”

The majority of council voted to support the mayoral minute, with councillors Pryce, Tegan Swan and George Cecato voting against it.

After the meeting, Cr Amos said hoped Property and Development NSW would continue to have talks with council and reconsider the previous offer.

“Failing that we will just be forging ahead with compulsory acquisitions,” he said.

In a statement after the meeting, Coffs MP Gurmesh Singh hit out at the proposal.

“Council’s draft concept sketch is an insult to the vast majority of Coffs Harbour residents who want to see improvement at the Jetty,” he said.

“It’s not to scale, lacks any detail, and most disappointingly, the council voted against putting this embarrassment out to public consultation.”