The news that Ingenia has withdrawn their massive and poorly planned development for over-55s living in Scotts Head, south of Coffs Harbour, is a win for the community and shows the power of community campaigns, said Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP and planning spokesperson.

The Ingenia development would have seen the clearfelling of 50 hectares of habitat bushland and would have added 25% to the local population, putting huge pressures on local infrastructure and posing a flood and fire risk to elderly residents.

“This is a win for the power of community action. It shows that communities can win against inappropriate developments when they come together and stand up for what’s right. A huge congratulations to the Scotts Head community for keeping up the pressure until this outrageous proposal was withdrawn,” said Ms Faehrmann.

“It was an absurd proposal from the beginning – cramming a new population of hundreds of elderly residents into the area was never going to work. Scotts Head already has a shortage of medical services, and with only one access road to get out in the inevitable case of fires and floods, it was a dangerously bad idea. Not to mention clearing precious habitat for our wildlife.”

Ms Faehrmann says this is one of many inappropriate developments in NSW’s small coastal towns.

“Scotts Head is the tip of the iceberg. Communities right along our coast are facing an influx of these huge and completely inappropriate developments that don’t consider community needs.”

“Big development companies don’t care that their plans will overwhelm small communities that don’t have the resources or infrastructure to support big population change. And they certainly don’t care that collectively they are threatening to wreck hundreds of hectares of sensitive coastal bushland and wipe out habitat for threatened species.”

“Developer greed is a huge threat to everything we know and love about our coastal way of life.”

“This win in Scotts Head shows that communities won’t give up on protecting our coast. Big developers and their mates in the Liberal State Government should know that their plans for indiscriminate development aren’t welcome, and to expect strong community resistance at every turn,” said Ms Faehrmann.