I would like to express my disappointment at the State Government’s decision to rebuild Kingscliff Police Station at the expense of all other regions in the Tweed Shire.
The coastal villages of Pottsville, Hastings Point and Bogangar have been policed from Kingscliff, following the closure of Tumbulgum police station in 1970.
During the eighties and nineties, it became obvious that it was no longer practical to police Tweed coastal villages from Kingscliff. The problem was simple … response times! Negotiating the coast road was bad enough then and we didn’t even have Salt or the other modern developments of today. After Kingscliff closed at night, it was even worse, responding from Tweed Heads. No staff, sometimes only one car on the road. The skeleton car crew had the journey to Tyalgum or Pottsville, whilst leaving Tweed Heads void of enforcement, whilst the skeleton staff had the journey to Tyalgum or Pottsville. This is still the situation today.
In 1995 the then Police Minister, Garry West, directed his Police Department head, Mr Kelly, to commence negotiations for acquisition of land and development of a police and emergency services centre at Chinderah. Chosen land was owned by the RTA and located between Chinderah golf course and the Tweed bypass. The Liberals lost government a short time later and the new Labor Government shelved all plans for the project.
The proposal would have enabled the State Government to establishment a multi-purpose complex including police, courts, fire, ambulance and a number of other State Government offices.
The land, which is still available, is a parcel comprising 10 hectares. Just imagine the rent that could be saved.
It is costing the State Government tens of thousands of dollars annually for rental of premises to house the firearms registry alone.
Just imagine the rent that could be saved by having all government bodies in one place. To say nothing of the fact that all of this would be located in the neck of the central corridor of the Tweed Shire? Not on resort development land at Kingscliff Beach.
But no! Thanks to the narrow vision of a few, it looks like this proposal is almost lost. Instead of having an 8-9 minute ‘urgent’ response time from Chinderah to Pottsville on a major highway, the lives of people on the coast will continue to be placed at risk. Murwillumbah, Burringbar, Uki and Tyalgum would also be served at night by a quick response, well staffed police centre.
To anyone in the right places, I plead with you to overturn this decision.
Sell the prime beachfront land at Kingscliff for the millions of dollars it is worth. Use that money to develop Chinderah or Cudgen and establish rented shopfronts at Pottsville and Tweed Heads CBDs. A very small percentage of the proceeds could be used for necessary landfill at Chinderah. This was always considered an issue. However, it certainly didn’t worry the likes of BP when they developed their service centre.
The idea of spending this obscene amount of money on the waterfront at Kingscliff is an absurdity and those responsible for the concept and planning should hang their heads in shame.
Because it was to be a simple transfer between government depart-ments, the 1995 project was almost cost-free, certainly cost effective. BP Australia and other corporates had already realised the value of the land.
Does it matter, Mr Provest, if getting this right causes some delay?
In the interest of making the correct decision, shouldn’t you act immediately? Or don’t you care about the needs of your constituents on the Tweed Coast and in rural areas of this shire
If nothing is done now, today, it will be 40 or more years before we get what we need and pay for in our taxes.
Ian Spiers
Murwillumbah
Former OIC Kingscliff Police, ret.
