Milne remains firm on Cudgen site

Mayor says hospital doesn't meet planning requirements.

Tweed Shire Council Mayor Katie Milne protests against the hospital site with Team Relocate's James and Hayley Paddon. Picture: Scott Powick

TWEED Shire Council mayor Katie Milne has maintained her stance that the new $534 million Tweed Valley Hospital should remain at Tweed Heads despite the state election result.

The site of the new hospital was used by both the Nationals and Labor in their fight for the seat of Tweed, with Geoff Provest re-elected last weekend in what was considered a "referendum” on where the hospital would be built.

But Cr Milne said there was no development approval for the hospital and there were still other options for its location which don't "destroy State Significant Farmland”.

"If the process is fair the determination should have nothing to do with who is in power,” she said.

"It must be about whether the hospital meets the requirements of planning legislation which it obviously does not.

"One of the key aspects of this application to destroy State Significant Farmland is that it must prove that there are no other feasible sites.”

Cr Mine said the Cudgen location was "very hard to justify when there are clearly other options for an expansion to the west of the existing Tweed Heads hospital”.

She also mentioned Kings Forest was still an option.

Billionaire developer Bob Ell was contacted via his company Leda Holdings to speak about plans following the election, but a spokesman was unable to comment.

Mr Ell sent a letter to State Government ministers in January demanding the nine-storey hospital be built at Kings Forest, the proposed location of a Leda residential housing development.

Meanwhile, Team Relocate has warned there's "no going back now” following its failed fight to move the hospital from Cudgen.

Relocate founder Hayley Paddon issued a statement on behalf of the group.

"This is a sad day for the future of Cudgen farmlands and the village of Kingscliff,” it stated.

"The LNP has changed its unique character and the lives of residents forever. There will be no going back now.

"The election results do not change the fact there are still no approvals for the project.”

The group called on NSW Minister for Health Brad Hazzard "to be forthcoming with the report on rezoning” the hospital site from its status as State Significant Farmland.

"Our community will also be watching closely to see that Geoff Provest and this LNP government honour their 'iron clad' guarantees that they will not rezone and allow any more land to be developed and there will be no more loss of State Significant Farmland on the Cudgen Plateau,” the statement read.

Relocate will regroup this Sunday at the Cudgen Leagues Club to thank its supporters.