The fight against the proposed Tweed Byron Local Area Command Centre at Marine Parade Kingscliff continues with a meeting to be held at the Kingscliff Beach Club on Tuesday, March 27.
The meeting has been called by the Tweed Business and Residents Focus Group incorporated (TBRFG) formed to fight against the proposed redevelopment of the current site of the Kingscliff Police station.
TBRFG president Paul McMahon said the meeting was being held to bring residents up to date on what is happening.
“The TBRFG now has over 100 residential and business members that are all concerned about this over development on Marine Parade Kingscliff and we are convening a progress report meeting on Tuesday, March 27 at the Kingscliff Beach Club on Marine Parade from 7pm,” he said.
“We are encouraging visitors to come along prior to the meeting to sign up and find out how they can help. We will be issuing personal invitations to the Member for Tweed and Parliamentary Secretary for Police Geoff Provest MP, Member for Lismore and Deputy Speaker Thomas George MP and Minister for the North Coast Don Page MP as all their electorates will be affected by the Parsons report recommendations.
“The Tweed Business and Residents Focus Group incorporated (TBRFG) has filed documents to challenge the approval for the new Tweed Byron Local Area Command Centre on Marine Parade in the seaside village of Kingscliff through the NSW Land and Environment Court. “This action is progressing well, respondents have been served and we are looking forward to a determination in the coming months,” Paul said.
“The location of a new LAC (local area command) on Marine Parade is an over development of the greatest magnitude, is not visionary and fails to give consideration to the future requirements of residents from the border in the north to Byron Bay in the south.
“This is particularly relevant given the recent release of the independent Parsons report on February 25 this year that looks into the current resources of the NSW Police Force to determine a strategic plan for the future of local area command centres in regional NSW.
“The Parsons report says, ‘It is proposed that the current structure of eighty (80) Local Area Commands and six (6) Regions will be replaced by 30 Districts each containing varying numbers of patrols.’
“So logic would tell you that when the Richmond and Tweed commands merge (a total of 402 suburbs and towns) the location of any new police command facility will be critical given the area that requires coverage will stretch from Lismore in the south to Casino in the west and north to the QLD/NSW border, so placing one in the middle of a coastal village is just bad planning,” Paul said.
