Leda to challenge cat bans at Cobaki and Kings Forest as final approvals just months away

A PAIR of billion dollar housing developments which will be home to 24,000 people are set to begin construction, but there’s one thing which will be missing - cats.

CONSTRUCTION could soon start on the Gold Coast and Tweed’s largest cat-free towns.

Kings Forest and Cobaki have been in the planning stages for 30 years and Leda’s Reg van Rij said they would be ready to start subdividing with construction permits in hand by April.

Once completed, Cobaki, just west of the Gold Coast Airport, and Kings Forest, southwest of Kingscliff, would be home to 13,000 and 11,000 people respectively.

Leda Development Regional Manager Reg van Rij overlooking the site of a proposed mini city in Cobaki.

Under the current plans the two towns, each the size of Murwillumbah, would not allow residents to have cats.

Leda’s regional manager Mr van Rij will today argue to have the cat clause scratched at Cobaki in mediation between Tweed Shire Council and the NSW Department of Planning.

The mediation is an initial step in the Land and Environment Court case — a similar meeting about the Kings Forest ban is scheduled for later in the year.

An aerial shot of the proposed Cobaki development.

The ban was implemented during the NSW government’s concept plan assessment process in 2009.

The prohibition on purring pets was suggested in four submission, one from an individual and three from concerned environmental groups.

The suggestions were adopted by the Tweed Shire Council and the state government, which formally lodged it in the concept plan approved in 2010.

Leda applied to have the clause removed but that application was denied forcing the developer to take the condition to court.

Cats are natural born killers which is why they have been banned from Cobaki and Kings Forest. Picture: Ellen Smith

Mr van Rij said the cat ban was too much for the future towns that would have 10,000 homes between them.

“We consider it a fairly draconian policy in this day and age where about one in three households have a cat,” he said.

“We don’t argue that cats are a problem to environment as they kill native animals.

“But for a project as capital hungry as Cobaki you need all the help you can get to get sales just to pay off the investment.”

Mr van Rij said Leda was proposing rules, including a maximum of two cats per home, and that they must be desexed, microchipped, wear a collar and be indoors after 10pm.

Senior vet at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Dr Michael Pyne, says cats don’t attack koalas but kill birds.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary senior vet Michael Pyne said it was in those night-time hours when cats did the most damage.

“Cats are natural born killers,” he said.

“Cats are born to chase and attack things. Most domestic moggies are capable and will kill wildlife.

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He said his advice would be to keep a cat inside at night.

“I would prefer all cats to never go outside but in the real world it is difficult to keep a cat locked up,” he said.

“But it is a big call to have no cats.”

Plans for the Kings Forest development.

Mr van Rij said the Leda would make be ready to start subdividing Kings Forest and Cobaki in April.

“Leda would be unlikely to proceed with both at the same time and the board is expected to make a decision on the future strategy by the end of the year,” he said.

FACTS

* Cobaki is just 5 minutes drive from Coolangatta and world famous beaches Snapper Rocks, Kirra and Duranbah.

* Kings Forest is located on the Tweed Coast Road adjacent to the recently completed beachside suburb of Casuarina, near Kingscliff, some 15 minutes from the Gold Coast airport.