Bissell Concreting fined and hit with council stop work order

A Cairns concreting firm has been slapped with a fine and a stop work order after allegedly chopping down trees and dumping fill without authorisation at a recently acquired block of land.

Mounds of fill seen at Lot 10 Machans Beach Rd on November 1, 2023. Picture: Supplied

A Cairns concreting firm has been slapped with a fine and ordered to stop work after allegedly chopping down trees and dumping fill without authorisation at a recently acquired Machans Beach block of land.

In June 2023 Bissell Concreting paid $310,000 for a 1.64 Ha block fronting Machans Beach Rd.

Before the acquisition, according to dated satellite images, the block was completely covered by tree growth, subsequent imagery taken in December 2023 following the land sale clearly shows deforestation and dumping of fill at the site.

A before and after image of Lot 10 Machans Beach Rd. The bottom satellite image was taken in June 2022 and the top image in December 2023 after the property was acquired by Bissell Concreting. Picture: Queensland Globe

Machans Beach resident Deryck Thompson said he was concerned at the loss of such a large number of trees at the site in an area classed as high value regrowth.

“I am also concerned that the dumping of fill will push flood waters onto both Machans access roads and our bypass road,” he said.

“The normal procedure is you approach council and put in a development application and council goes through the procedures, but in this case the developer (allegedly) cut down a 100 trees and didn’t put a DA in.”

Mr Thompson claims some trees within the boundary of a public road reserve were also cut down.

A truck photographed dumping fill at Lot 10 Machans Beach Rd on October 16, 2023. Picture: Supplied

According to Cairns Regional Council no development application has been lodged.

Division 8 councillor Rhonda Coghlan said “of course” unauthorised land clearing was “disappointing” but “we don’t have the resources surveillance to monitor it 24 hours a day.”

Mr Thompson said Bissell Concreting director Beau Bissell did attend a community meeting in October last year where Machans Beach residents raised concerns about the development.

“He came to the meeting with his father and presented a very human face and explained what he was proposing,” he said.

The area photographed last week. Picture: Supplied

It’s understood Mr Bissell plans to build a 4000sq/m shed to store earthmoving equipment.

Following work being reported to authorities, council issued a stop work order on September 4 last year, however it’s claimed dumping of fill continued until December.

It’s understood council officers last year were in talks with the developer to work towards compliance, however since then Bissell Concreting has been issued with a fine.

The matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation, according to council.

Though council did not disclose exactly how much Bissell Concreting had been fined, this type of offence can incur a penalty of up to $3,096 for an individual and up to $15,480 for a corporation.

Mr Bissell was unavailable when contacted by the Cairns Post.

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Originally published as Bissell Concreting fined and hit with council stop work order