North Lismore Plateau development debate heats up again after flood

Controversy around a potential development in Lismore has flared up again as council looks at options for land swaps away from flood plains.

The debate about the North Lismore Plateau is about to heat up again.

The controversial plateau developments which have been under the scrutiny of the community and fought in court for years could be resurrected as a result of the floods.

Almost 1000 properties were impacted or destroyed in North and South Lismore and council is searching for new areas to develop housing to relocate residents away from flood plains.

Those potential plans were detailed in the Lismore City Council Discussion Paper released earlier this month.

While there were no binding decisions made in the paper it said the plateau area “which is anticipated to provide at least 1200 new lots” was deemed appropriate to meet the 20 year dwelling projections provided to council.

Councillor Big Rob, who had previously attempted to halt the handover of land to the Widjabul Wia-bel people to explore more options for development said the floods had changed the situation.

However, countless legal actions have been launched by the traditional owners of the land against developers like Winten Property Group who have designs on projects in the area.

“It is pretty clear that we need to make as much land (available) as possible above our Probable Maximum Flood level height of 16.55 metres,” Cr Rob said.

“It would be great if we could revisit and fast track development of the North Lismore Plateau after the 28 February flood disaster.

“Most of the North Lismore Plateau land is well above 16.55 metres”.

Councillor Big Rob is speaking up in support of development of North Lismore Plateau.

Councillor Big Rob says potential development will be delayed by legal action.

“There is no question that the residential development areas up on the North Lismore Plateau should proceed. The cultural heritage issues appear to have been resolved and the land is privately owned and suitable for development,” he said.

“There is a fair bit of council owned land at the southern end of the North Lismore Plateau. Only a part of that is suitable for building on. There is no reason why the suitable land cannot be used to ensure lower cost housing options on the Plateau.”

Part of the land in question is at 55 Dunoon Rd where in May, 2020, a development application for a 433-lot residential development was ruled “invalidly made, void and of no effect” by the Land and Environment Court.

The ruling said the Winten Property Group, failed to submit a species impact statement with the development application.

Winten did not appeal the decision, but lodged a new DA for part of the land.

Previous plans from 2021 for the Winten development application at the North Lismore Plateau.

The new DA lodged in November last year was estimated to cost $8,608,157, and proposed subdividing two lots into 85 residential lots, two super lots, and two residue lots which is now the only active development application.

The lawyer who fought the legal case against Wintenon behalf of the indigenous elders, Al Oshlack says that it’s both culturally and ecologically unsafe to develop.

He is committed to taking any development application on the North Lismore Plateau to court.

“This is not a ‘go-er’,” he said.

“We will use any legal means to stop it”.

Mr Oshlack agrees there will be more of a housing need for flood survivors but is certain there are other options available instead of North Lismore Plateau.

Lismore City Council general manager John Walker says council is aware of the flood impacts on the site but says the Winten Property Group development application is still valid.

“The recent flooding will be considered with the more detailed information required by the conditions of development consent prior to work commencing,” he said.