GemLife’s Tweed Waters land lease community in northern NSW has met a hurdle, with Tweed Shire Council refusing permission for several manufactured homes to be built onsite.
Two requests by GemLife – one to change conditions of consent for homes at sites 39, 40 and 85 to 96 to be built onsite, and one relating to site coverage to allow the addition of pergolas – were knocked back by Council, despite the support of conservative Councillor Warren Polglase, as reported in Echo.
Speaking on the first request, Mayor Chris Cherry said that the sites in question are close to existing residential homes, which raise concerns about construction noise.
“To have those constructed right there is a very big consideration. That’s why we do have as part of the regulation of manufacturer homes off-site, it is to protect the amenity of the people around. I think it is really important that we uphold that.
“It is quite clear from the report that the mitigation measures that have been put in place are not going to provide adequate noise attenuation, at best five decibels. The report says where the construction works are above the height of the fence then they provide none at all,” the mayor said.
Councillor Polglase disagreed, saying that construction machinery had already been on-site for five months.
“The site has been filled, and there has been block work been done and footings laid. So to talk about the noise factor, it is the opinion by council officers that there is a noise factor building homes.
“Well, there has been more noise being created by the activity of the construction of the site than what there would be building the homes,” he said.
GemLife Tweed Waters is planned for Tweed Heads on the NSW-Queensland border; Council last year deferred its decision around allowing the developer to build homes on-site.
