Court ruling clears way for 124-home Byron Shire development

Opponents of a controversial housing development in northern New South Wales will have a week to appeal a Federal Court ruling before excavators start digging up the site.About 100 people gathered in Brunswick Heads near the site known locally as "Wallum" to hear a livestream of the judgment.The court rejected an application by Save Wallum Inc for a permanent injunction on the housing development.Save Wallum Inc spokesperson Luciana Bowen said the judgment was "incredibly disappointing".About 100 people gathered to watch the livestream of the judgment. (ABC News: Hannah Ross)"You have to wonder what credibility our environmental laws have at a national level if we can't protect threatened species and their habitat from extinction," she said."The community has spent hundreds of thousand of dollars and countless hours trying to protect this place through the Federal Court system."This is the site of the Wallum development at Brunswick Heads. (Source: Clarence Property)Temporary injunctionThe judgment comes more than two years after the court imposed a temporary injunction that halted work on the development. That temporary injunction has been extended for a week to give Save Wallum and the developer Clarence Property an opportunity to consider the court's decision.Ms Bowen said lawyers for Save Wallum would be combing through the ruling to see if there was a legal basis on which to launch an appeal.If not, the developer can move on site from 5pm on September 14 to slash the grass and start construction on stage one which involves construction of 36 artificial frog ponds.The Wallum development has been on the drawing board since 2013, when the site's previous owner lodged concept plans with planning authorities.The Wallum heathland at Brunswick Heads is home to many old-growth scribbly gums. (ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross)Clarence Property Group bought the land in 2021, and has approval to develop 124 housing lots on 12 hectares of the 30-hectare site.Chief executive Simon Kennedy said the company felt vindicated by the judgment."The applicant was suggesting that there were matters of national significance with respect to the species and the level of endangerment that may have occurred as a result of the development, and her honour has found is that is actually not true," he said."We have been ready to commence works for 26 months so it has been a long wait for us."There have been people looking to buy houses, young families ready to build houses and we've been held up for no reason."So we are very keen to get on site and commence works."Activists were initially granted a temporary injunction in 2024, as the developer was preparing to bring in heavy machinery to start stage one of the development.Tensions flared in 2024 as the developer tried to move ahead with works on the site. (ABC News)At the time, it was celebrated by protesters who had established a camp next to the development site, with some eventually locking themselves onto machinery and occupying the branches of several large scribbly gums within the site.Save Wallum's application for a permanent injunction under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act was heard in the Federal Court last year.The group's submissions cited habitat loss for the critically endangered Mitchell's rainforest snail, endangered koalas and vulnerable species the long-nosed potaroo, Wallum sedge frogs and glossy black cockatoos. The reasons for the final judgment are yet to be published and were not read to the court.