Open letter to NSW Govt Ministers and interested parties:
I am a former Sergeant in charge of Kingscliff Police Station, 1989 – 1995. I have resided in the Tweed Shire since 1981.
On Monday of this week I attended a meeting of the Joint Regional Planning Committee, chaired by Mr Garry West.
It was made abundantly clear at the meeting that almost the entire community of the Tweed region is opposed to the development of Kingscliff Police Station into a command headquarters. There were cogent and compelling reasons relating to parking which formed the basis of Tweed Shire Council’s objection to the proposal, however there are so many other issues to take into account.
The project which is an advanced stage of planning was formulated with little or no public consultation.
It is now a real possibility that the development will not proceed on the basis of the opposition of council.
In 1995, then Minister for Police and Emergency Services Garry West, directed his senior policy adviser, Bruce Kelly to commence negotiations with the RTA with a view to acquiring 10 acres of land at Chinderah for the establishment of a police and emergency services centre. It is now history that some months later there was a change of government and the project was shelved.
The RTA land is adjacent to the Chinderah roundabout and Tweed motorway and is still available. It was identified as far back as 1993 as a superior location for such a complex. It is in the neck of the central corridor linking New South Wales and Queensland. It is also diagonally opposite the 24 hour BP Service Centre.
The size of this parcel of land would enable the state government to locate Police, Ambulance, Fire, SES, RTA, Courts, Firearms Registry and any other departments at the site. Just imagine the saving for rental of premises for the Firearms Registry alone.
Cost of the transfer of title from RTA to the Minister of Police and Emergency Services would be minimal and the $8 million dollars allocated for the current Kingscliff project would go a long way towards the super centre at Chinderah. Add an estimated $5-6 million dollars from the sale of Kingscliff Fire, Police and Ambulance stations to this figure and it would realise a massive cost effective means of planning for the future. $12 to $14 million dollars well spent on a resource for the future
Current response times to urgent situations in the southern areas of the Tweed could be reduced by half. Tweed Heads Police Station should also be disposed of and replaced with a well staffed shop front facility in the Tweed Heads CBD. This would of course be well supported by a excellent number of mobile general duties, plain clothes and traffic police operating out of Chinderah.
Tweed Heads Police Station has outgrown itself and has never been suitably located. It is hard enough for visitors to find it, let alone locals, who, when they get there they have nowhere to park. This police station/court house property could be sold for a substantial sum of money which again could be put towards the Chinderah project.
The Chinderah location would require some landfill. However the amount of tax payer’s money that is to be saved from the re-organisation of emergency services is such that reclamation would be a minimal cost. In addition the site provides for suitable, above flood level off and on ramps to the motorway. I envisage a completely flood free project with undercroft parking slightly above current ground level. It would also provide adequately for the disabled.
The proposers of the Kingscliff police station development have acted in good faith, but they have not allowed for concerns relating to the disruption to the lifestyle of its local residents, future development, parking and the general needs of operational policing. Nor have they taken into account the policing and emergency service needs of the Tweed Shire for decades to come.
I speak with some authority on this proposal as I have researched the population growth rates and the unique demographics of this area since the early 1990’s. Those of us who have worked in the front line of emergency service response have already seen too many lives lost because of unacceptable response times by our services.
The Chinderah proposal also takes away the problem of speeding emergency vehicles with sirens blaring and hazard lights flashing through quiet residential streets.
It’s not too late to act.
I call upon everyone to work together here to ensure that no more mistakes are made and in turn ensuring the safety and welfare of Tweed communities into the future.
This proposal has been on the table for almost twenty years.
Ian Spiers
