Jetty land transfer a surprise to Cr Amos who is on precinct steering committee

Council will have until June 30 to lift their rate of approvals. It was news to Cr Amos who has taken the State Govt to task on land ownership there.

Cr Paul Amos is on the Jetty Foreshore Precinct Advisory Committee but was unaware of Gurmesh Singh's announcement.

Coffs Harbour City Councillor Paul Amos was not aware a parcel of land along the railway track at the Jetty was being handed over to Council by the NSW Government on Thursday.

“Maybe I am not important enough,” he laughed.

Cr Amos is one of two Crs on the Jetty Foreshore Precinct Steering Advisory Committee. The other is Cr George Cecato.

The panel was announced in October last year.

Cr Amos had previously challenged the NSW Government over ownership of a nearby patch of prime Jetty Foreshore land.

He based his land claim on the little-used law of ‘adverse possession’, known colloquially as squatter’s rights.

The section of land to the north of Marina Drive, east of the railway tracks, has been used for a range of community purposes over the years from carboot sales to concerts and parking.

Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh lashed out at the move, saying council was wasting “more ratepayer dollars”. He had also been critical of Council for pushing ahead with the Cultural and Civic Space.

Lawyers eventually ruled it a no go.

On Thursday Mr Singh announced $3m has been allocated to Council, as part of the NSW Public Spaces Legacy Program to acquire a 5,200sqm block on Harbour Drive.

“This is a great result for the local community and has been a long time in the making,” Mr Singh said.

Council will receive the funds to acquire the land on Harbour Drive adjacent to the Jetty Strip to be used as open public space and as a gateway to the Jetty Foreshore.

Commonly known as the ‘Whale Tail land’, the block stretches along the railway track from the Whale Tail sculpture (across from Hog’s Breath) to the railway station.

Minister Water, Property and Housing Melinda Pavey at the announcement of the Jetty Foreshore Project Steering Advisory Committee with Crs Paul Amos and George Cecato in the background. Photo: Tim Jarrett

Minister Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes said the funding being delivered to councils was reliant on them meeting agreed targets to speed up local development applications.

“This program is the first of its kind in NSW and demonstrates state and local government working together to create a legacy of beautiful public spaces that communities, for decades, can be proud of,” Mr Stokes said.

“In exchange for legacy funding, councils participating in the program need to speed up their assessment times. They have until June 30 to keep hitting their targets but, so far, the program has seen a 20 per cent improvement.

The train line runs through the Coffs Jetty area.

“It’s been great to see the unclogging of the planning system as part of this program - 42 of 53 planning proposals that had been stuck in the planning system for more than four years have been resolved and 161 of 168 regionally significant development applications have been cleared.”

Council will be given funding for project planning and design and will have until June 30 to show they’ve met DA assessment performance improvements across the Local Government Area to lock in their full allocation of funding, ahead of construction starting on projects from August this year.

Mr Singh has been at odds with Council over their approval rates saying there simply aren‘t enough homes being approved and this is contributing to the homeless crisis.

He has reiterated the need for local councils to open up more land and focus on approving new developments to increase the supply of homes on the market.

“I’m delighted that, thanks to this NSW Government funding, we have acquired a key component of the Jetty Strip Structure Plan – the ‘Whale Tail land’,” Mayor Denise Knight said.

“The Jetty Strip is one of Coffs Harbour’s best-known dining and meeting places, as well as being a gateway to the wonderful community open spaces in the Foreshores.”