Plans to rezone farmland in the village of Clunes have a group of village residents worried about what it means for the future of the village – and they are calling for more community consultation before any decisions are made.

Clunes resident Sonya Voumard said a group of 72 residents have fears that a rezoning proposal in Lismore City Council’s draft Growth and Realignment Strategy (GARS) would double the village size and destroy its “unique character”.

The rezoning proposal proposes a major development and rezoning of the macadamia farm at 15a Walker Street and part of 1610 Bangalow Road (in the area behind the Clunes General Store).

The proposal has already been submitted to Lismore Council – and is now in the hands of the State Planning Department.

“We are concerned about process and lack of transparency about this proposal," Sonya said. "We’ve had no clear vision of this presented to us before it gets pushed through."

Meeting called

Sonya said the group of villagers (informally known as Friends of Clunes), say they feel left out of the decision-making process - and want more people to come to an informational meeting organised by Lismore City Council for tomorrow, to discuss growth plans for Clunes.

It will be held in the village hall held at 5pm, Thursday October 6.

“Clunes residents feel they are being kept in the dark about a proposal that threatens to change forever the very features that attracted them to the village in the first place,” Sonya said.

“We strongly encourage all residents interested in the future of Clunes to book in to attend so as many people as possible can express their views about what they want – and don’t want – for our village.”

Sonya said despite community members’ already formally expressing serious concern and asking for more details about what’s being proposed, Council forwarded the rezoning proposal to the State Government Department of Planning, where it is now being considered.

Privacy grounds

“Separate requests by several Clunes residents to access the 327 private submissions on which the GARS – which contains the major rezoning proposal of 63 rural hectares in Clunes to residential – was based have been declined on privacy grounds,” she said.

Sonya said the majority owner of the land to be rezoned is known as Mangon One, owned by Discovery Liu Limited.

“The minority land owner told us that they have commissioned an engineer’s report to work out the and number of lots development area could have, based on the size of the sewerage system the site could accommodate,” she said.

“We want the decision on the Clunes proposal to be postponed until more detail, including the number of lots planned, is available.

Development?

“We are not anti-development, but we believe in sustainable development.

“We are worried that land rezoning could mean that over 500 hectares will be able to be divided into hundreds of lots.

“If the development is too big, it will have a massive impact on the character of Clunes, as well as the infrastructure and extra traffic it will bring.

“We are also worried that if there is no connection between the development and the current town, it could create a community division – unless the development is sensitively integrated into the village.

“There are not many road access points into Clunes and there are already traffic jams on Bangalow Road.”

Affordable housing

Sonya said the group were also concerned that any future development would not take into consideration affordable housing options, or land buy-backs/swaps for flood-affected residents of Lismore.

 “We are also concerned that an attractive-sounding eco-village concept may be used to smooth the decision-making path – but there are absolutely no guarantees, once rezoned, that such a plan would be honoured,” she said.

“While the 2022 Lismore floods rightly led to an urgent reconsideration of safe and affordable housing options for the Lismore LGA, there is no evidence that the Clunes development proposal has anything whatsoever to do with flood recovery and affordable housing.

“It would be foolish to let a major village expansion push go through unexamined. At the moment, we’re looking for clues in the dark.

“We are concerned about process and lack of transparency – we've had no clear vision of this presented to us before it gets pushed through.

“Consultation is a necessary part of our democracy and we would like to see a wildlife corridor kept as part of any development there - to support the platypus and echidnas we know are there.”

Lismore City Council General Manager John Walker said, "No rezoning application has been received".

"A planning proposal for rezoning can only be made for an area that is identified within a growth strategy. At this stage, we are still consulting with the community as to whether there is support or otherwise for a potential expansion to Clunes and what types of development would be most suitable."