Valla Beach rallies for Langsford Way as auction date approaches

MORE than 100 local residents gathered for a picnic at Anderson Park, Valla Beach, on Sunday, 12 April, in a show of opposition to the pending development of adjacent land at Lot 1 Langsford Way.

Valla Beach resident Georgette Allen said the community will continue the fight to protect the Langsford Way site, which goes to auction next week and is touted for the development of 60 residential dwellings to ease the region’s housing shortage.

“We continue to work together in a range of ways, including gathering data on the flora and fauna species present on the site, seeking further information about the processes involved in the State Labor government’s decision to sell this land, as well as ensuring the broader community is kept up-to-date with whatever we find out,” she said.

Rally attendees signed a joint letter to Oxley MP Michael Kemp, seeking his support to make representations to relevant Ministers, on behalf of the Valla Beach community, questioning why the NSW Government has “rushed through the decision-making and plans for auction”.

Mr Kemp has previously slammed the government’s proposal for lacking transparency and communicated community feeling about the site to Minister for Lands and Property Steve Kamper.

Locals have raised concerns over a lack of consultation with residents and Nambucca Valley Council, and the knock-on effects from potential habitat loss.

While the NSW Government says a Preliminary Biodiversity Assessment has been completed, residents are frustrated at the apparent lack of social or environmental impact assessments.

“There is evidence of a lack of planning or forethought about the increased need for social infrastructure, or impacts on social amenity and native species reliant on the heavily-wooded site,” Georgette said.

To better understand environmental impacts, the community has engaged local ecologists who have described the site as a significant Yellow-tailed Black cockatoo camp, with nomadic annual movement occurring between October and January.

“The site comprises a stand of mature Coastal Blackbutt containing an array of hollow-bearing trees, and trees with a diameter at breast height (dbh) of over 150cm recorded on site, providing important habitat for a range of hollow-dependent and threatened fauna, potential nest and roost sites for Glossy Black cockatoos and Large Forest Owls, and den sites for Yellow-bellied Glider, Phascogale and Micro-bats,” Georgette said.

The crowd at the picnic was entertained with music by the Wild Women of Anywhere Beach, joining in with songs such as “Koalas Need Gum Trees”.