Slashing at Lot 2 Sawtell Road ordered by Coffs Harbour City Council

Coffs Harbour City Council has been left red-faced after giving permission to a land owner at the centre of legal battle to clear vegetation the community is trying to save.

Opponents of a proposed development on Sawtell Road make their feelings known.​

Coffs Council has been left red-faced after it ordered a landowner to slash scrub on land at the centre of lengthy legal battle and community campaign to save it.

A controversial subdivision at Lot 2, Sawtell Road has been before the Land and Environment Court since 2019, with the developer Regional Architects fighting its refusal.

Opponents to the proposal say the area shouldn’t be developed due to its ecological significance, including that it acts as a wildlife corridor.

The council received word on Thursday last week there was slashing activity occurring at the site and after compliance officers visited the area the works were stopped.

However it has emerged that the council had previously ordered the slashing to take place after acting on a complaint.

“The original order council issued was more far reaching than it should have been,” a council spokeswoman said.

“Once this was realised the works were duly inspected and the order was revoked with works ceasing.”

Regional Architects director Dan Stevens says the council ordered slashing on the Sawtell Road site.

Regional Architects director Dan Stevens said the order came with a warning he could be fined if his company did not comply with the directive to slash the vegetation.

He said his only other option was to take it to the Land and Environment Court, adding that he thought the order was “a bit odd”.

“I was given an order by one part of council, otherwise I would get fined,” he said.

“We were complying with the order – I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”

A spokesman for the Save Lot 2 Sawtell Road group said people could hear machinery throughout the day and they estimated more than 1.4 hectares of undergrowth may have been slashed.

The group expressed shock and dismay at the clearing and estimated “hundreds” of small paperbark and tea tree saplings were mulched.

“This is an area of very old natural bushland containing numerous large trees across the site containing hollows,” the spokesperson said.

“It was identified by the owner’s own ecologist in a 2016 report as high value, floristically intact vegetation communities, containing valuable habitat for a range of locally threatened species including the threatened Wallum froglet.”

They implored the owners of Lot 2 to recognise the “distinct and invaluable” biodiversity within the area and preserve and protect the area in perpetuity.