By NIKKI TODD
THE first blocks in the new $2.25 billion Tweed Coast estate of Kings Forest are expected to be up for sale by the end of 2014 following final development approval by the NSW Government.
The Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC) last week gave the final nod to the first 500 plots in the massive new estate, lodged by billionaire Bob Ell through his company Leda Developments.
The 880ha estate, which will see 4,500 homes built over the next 20 years, is located directly to the north of Cudgen Lake and will be accessed via Old Bogangar Road.
It sits directly opposite the new developments of Seaside, Miramar and Casuarina, where significant earthworks are already underway.
The estate will eventually include two primary schools, a shopping centre, community hall, golf course and sporting fields.
A koala plan of management will be in place to help protect the endangered marsupial and provide a buffer from the adjacent Cudgen Nature Reserve.
Leda Developments Tweed manager Reg van Rij, who is also presiding over a 5,500-home development at Cobaki on the Tweed-Gold Coast border, said he was not concerned about an over-supply of housing product coming to market.
“We are not concerned at all – ours is a 20-year project,’’ Mr Van Rij said.
“We will be offering a range of different product. Indeed, there is nothing better than competition.
“Not only are we not concerned about it; we welcome it because it shows the area has got potential, it gives the area interest, it offers a variety of product – it gives us reason to get out of bed a little bit earlier than we otherwise might have.’’
He said Kings Forest would offer a point of difference to the other estates, with “very, very competitive’’ pricing, particularly for empty nesters, singles and smaller families.
Mr Van Rij said he expected a lift in the property market, boosted by improving economic conditions.
“We foresee an uplift and it might be progressive but steady – we don’t foresee sudden silly days like 2003,’’ he said.
Mr Van Rij said Kings Forest would provide a significant economic boost to the lagging Tweed economy, with up to 6000 jobs likely to be created.
He further estimated Kings Forest would generate $5 million in rates for Tweed Shire Council each year and inject $96 million into the area’s water and sewerage infrastructure.
Tweed Coast Road would also be upgraded to four lanes, north from Kings Forest to the Pacific Highway, to accommodate the additional patronage.
But the controversial development, long opposed by environmentalists fearing its impact on the endangered koala population, has not met with favour by all.
NSW Greens MP and state planning spokesman David Shoebridge, who visited the area last week, slammed the PAC for approving the project despite “vocal community opposition and substantial environmental impacts’’.
“The O’Farrell Government continues to claim they are working to return planning to local communities but decisions such as this show that to be simply untrue,’’ Mr Shoebridge said.
“These decisions clearly demonstrate that despite the Government’s rhetoric, it is business as usual for big developers in NSW.’’
