A Greens-led push at Ballina Shire Council has triggered a dramatic shift in the region’s long-term planning direction, with moves to limit industrial land planning, strip future housing areas and reject changes aimed at protecting farm activity.

The controversial proposals were led by former Greens mayoral candidate Cr Kiri Dicker during Wednesday night’s Environment and Sustainability Committee meeting.

Despite strong opposition from Mayor Sharon Cadwallader, the measures passed with the support of several independent councillors originally elected on the mayor’s ticket.

Only Deputy Mayor Damian Loone voted consistently with the mayor against the changes.

The decisions could have significant long-term consequences for jobs, farming and housing supply across Ballina Shire.

Industrial land warning ignored

The first flashpoint came during debate over the shire’s long-term planning strategy, where Mayor Cadwallader attempted to add a new action requiring council to identify more employment land.

The proposal was defeated.

That came despite a blunt warning from veteran planner Steve Connolly, who told councillors the shire faced a critical shortage of industrial land.

“It is without any question. All the science, all the best analysis, says that you need to identify 50 hectares of land for industrial purposes,” Mr Connolly said.

A snapshot of Ballina shire’s projected growth captured in the planning document

“And I don’t think there’s any area for dispute there.”

He said nearly every site currently identified was heavily constrained.

“Every single one of them is a dud, in my view,” he said.

“By my rough calculation, I think there’s probably four hectares of realistic land identified.”

Mr Connolly urged councillors not to lock in the strategy without doing more work.

“You’ve got an urgent problem, a serious problem, one that I implore you not to walk away from,” he said.

“Do not adopt the strategy today and leave yourself in a position where you have effectively four hectares of industrial land.”

The warning reflects broader concerns across the Northern Rivers, where the Northern Rivers Joint Organisation of councils has previously identified a significant regional shortage of employment land.

Growth areas stripped from long-term plan

The most significant decision came when Cr Dicker successfully moved to remove three strategic urban growth areas — known as SUGAs — from council’s planning framework.

The areas were:

• Precinct B North Kinvara
  • Precinct C Cumbalum
  • West Lennox Palms at Lennox Head

The sites had been identified for possible future urban expansion for decades and were reaffirmed by the previous council.

Cr Dicker argued they should never have remained in the strategy.

“These sites, in my opinion, are ultimately not possible for development,” she said.

The Ballina Shire Council team as featured in the planning document.  Councillors Phil Meehan and Erin Karsten were absent from the planning meeting, meaning the controversial decisions will likely be debated again at the full monthly council meeting on March 26.

She warned leaving them in planning documents sent the wrong signal to developers.

“We know that what this does is send a green light to the development industry that these sites are developable.”

Speaking about her hometown of Lennox Head, she said the town had already experienced too much growth.

“I think Lennox Head has been throttled by rapid growth.”

Fellow Lennox resident Cr Eva Ramsey, who supported the Greens despite having voted against their push to limit growth last term, said didn’t fully understand what was she doing at the time.

“When I first came on to council, we looked at the SUGAs and they were setting up for the next so many years,” she said.

“At that stage we weren’t actually taught the background of planning or how it works.”

Mayor Cadwallader strongly opposed removing the areas, saying the decision ignored years of planning work and could worsen the housing shortage.

“We’re in a housing crisis for goodness sake,” she said.

“To take out those three precincts without the due diligence that’s gone on in a previous council is wrong on so many levels.”

Cr Simon Kinny also warned the decision could limit future housing supply.

“To me, this amendment sounds like that we don’t want any more housing in the Ballina Shire,” he said.

“It’s a bit like I found my piece of paradise and I’m going to pull up the rungs of the ladder now.”

Farming versus rural views

Another clash centred on agriculture.

Mayor Cadwallader attempted to replace a planning reference to protecting “rural vistas” with the narrower term “scenic escarpment areas”, arguing the broader wording could restrict legitimate farm activity.

She pointed to past complaints about blueberry netting changing rural views.

“You’ve got to be allowed to carry out your farming practices,” she said.

Cr Dicker disagreed, saying protecting rural vistas remained important.

“You only need to drive into Coffs Harbour to see the impact that blueberry netting has had on the landscape,” she said.

Mayor Cadwallader responded that food production should take priority over protecting views.

“I will put farming production ahead of a rural view any day of the week.”

After the meeting Mayor Cadwallader warned the decisions could have serious long-term consequences for jobs, housing and economic growth.

“Everyone wants to live in Ballina and businesses want to expand here,” she told Ballina News Daily.

“But if we remove future growth areas from our planning now, we risk shutting the door on the opportunities that will provide homes and jobs for the next generation.”

The outcome could make the road ahead more difficult for both future housing expansion and the search for badly needed industrial land across the shire.