
Most of the lots already have or are to have tourist or residential accommodation on them as per Paradise Palms master plan.
The Combined Beaches Community Association believe that part of Lot4RP 8600786 is now being taken which is the number 9 hole of the golf course area. This area will be made into residential living. The first MCU involving this Lot set a very dangerous precedent. There were a total of 106 submitters against this DA being approved, but Hedley got their way and Council rolled over to the wishes of their favourite son.

The advert is also misleading to the general public.
Recent discussions between a resident at Paradise Palms and a planner revealed that they “are taking the Golf Course by stealth.”
So you can see that the Paradise Palms Golf Course is on a slippery slope to be being totally taken over for residential living unless residents rally now to save this wonderful sporting open green space facility.
If you take a drive up Paradise Palms Drive, just off the Captian Cook Highway north of Cairns, to the roundabout at the Clubhouse and check out the signs near the closed road that heads into the hills.
There's is a Development Application to alter the assessment level of 'Houses' from 'Impact Assessable' to 'Code Assessable' on the proposed nine-lot subdivision in the north-west part of Lot 5 CP891005.

This is called the 'Lookout' as advertised on the glossy sign nearby.
The DA may appear an innocuous request to formalise the subdivision houses, but don’t be deceived. There are two very important differences between “Impact” and “Code” assessment. The first is that Impact Assessment requires public notification (and an appeals process), while code assessment doesn’t. The second is that impact assessment requires applicable State, Commonwealth, and Council laws and regulations be considered. Code assessment is assessed only against relevant CairnsPlan codes.
Why is Impact Assessment needed?
How did this happen?
The subdivision land also has conservation significance recognised in State and Commonwealth legislation. The forest type is regionally restricted and fragmented because it hugs the footslopes and has been heavily cleared in the past. It is within an “of concern” regional ecosystem and is mapped as “Essential Habitat Area”.
The land abuts Kuranda National Park and the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Four building envelopes are close to the Wet Tropics boundary, and some of the land is steep with stability risks.
Work has been progressing sporadically on the subdivision since late 2005, amidst a number of problems and impacts including land clearing, rock hammering, trenching, erosion, and surface sediment runoff. The developer and consultant were taken to court by EPA and fined in October 2007 for environmental nuisance due to sedimentation of the adjacent Deep Creek.
This is the first Development Application on a Paradise Palms Masterplan development that is open for public comment to our new Council.
If this is approved, the Conservation Planning Area code within CairnsPlan will be meaningless.
In June 2007, residents were invited to comment on proposed changes to the CairnsPlan (Draft CairnsPlan 2007).
- “3.6 Cairns Beaches District
1.6.1 Description and Intent…
Tourist accommodation and associated small scale retail and commercial facilities are intended to be located in proximity to the waterfront, particularly at Trinity Beach and Palm Cove. These areas may also accommodate permanent residents who are attracted by the locations and the facilities. There is also the opportunity for development of tourist accommodation in several locations along the Captain Cook Highway.
Kewarra Beach is also intended to remain primarily as an area for conventional residential living. There is the opportunity for development of additional tourist accommodation adjacent to the waterfront in the northern part of the suburb.”
In relation to the above description, there were no amendments proposed to the Kewarra Beach area.
However, in the Special Meeting CairnsPlan minutes of 27 September 2007, (#1568599) the following resolutions were passed in relation to “3.6.1 Description and Intent Statement":
- 2. That Council not make the requested change to identify Paradise Palms as Major Tourist Accommodation on Map 2 – Tourism Strategy.
3. That section 3.6.1 Description and Intent Statement be amended to read :
Tourist accommodation and associated small scale retail and commercial facilities are intended to be located in proximity to the waterfront, particularly at Trinity Beach and Palm Cove, and also in proximity to the golf course at Kewarra Beach, west of the Captain Cook highway between Moore Road and Discovery Drive. These areas may also accommodate permanent residents who are attracted by the locations and facilities. There is also the opportunity for development of tourist accommodation in several locations along the Captain Cook Highway.”
The Combined Beaches Community Association contends that the amendment was not documented in either the Draft Plan for 3.6 Cairns Beaches District, nor in the Cairns Beaches District Plan, Planning Areas Map.
These two sections of the Draft Plan would have been the main areas that residents or submitters would have checked. The Cairns Beaches District is a specific district which details the preferred pattern of development, planning areas and overlays for this designated area.
The only reference to a change to the Beaches Planning area appears to be a map (Map 2, Tourism Strategy) which indicates a purple star (Major Tourist Attraction and Facilities – Appendix 11) in the area. There are no amendments or inclusions within the Draft to support these so called 'Major Tourist Attractions and Facilities'.
At the ordinary meeting on 20 December 2007, Council approved a development application for the establishment of 153 permanent residential units in a tall building on the south-western periphery of the Paradise Palms Golf Course. This is off Moore Road, Kewarra Beach.
The Minutes also documented that this approval was 'reflective of the amendment occurring to the description of the Cairns Beaches Planning District which identifies that these forms of development can occur in proximity to the Paradise Palms Golf Course.'
The Combined Beaches Community Association contend that the Council, after the Draft and Submission process, re-wrote the Cairns Beaches District Description and Intent, without public consultation.
- "and also roximity to the golf course at Kewarra Beach, west of the Captain Cook highway between Moore Road and Discovery Drive
Now that the former Novotel golf-course, that was the recipient of numerous national awards, has effectively been destroyed as a tourist facility, it is essential that our new Council keep an proper watch for all residents of what tourists actually come here for.
Hopefully, we won't have just more of the same from this new Council under Mayor Schier and the rest, after their expensive ratepayer-funded junket at Palm Cove.
This will be one of many test cases to show their true colours. We can live in hope.
The closing date for the public to lodge submissions is next Monday, 28th April.
10 comments:
There’s a lot to digest here, but isn’t this simply a case of Cairns Regional Council either agreeing to the Material Change of Use or rejecting it? And if they reject it, isn’t that the end of it? Anyone?
What Tom Hedley has done to Cairns for personal profit is just criminal.
When is someone going to take this guy out behind the barn?
A letter written by a visiting American Golfer....
“Great Course now Destroyed by Developers - Paradise no More!”
Paradise Palms Country Club
A TripAdvisor Member
Santa Monica, California
Dec 19, 2005
"I played Paradise Palms about four years ago; it was said to be one of the top five public courses in Australia. It was a great, creative, and tough course and I enjoyed playing it immensely.
I just played the course again, and they've made substantial changes to it that have basically destroyed it as a "pro-type" challenge. In talking with the clubhouse staff, the course (previously owned by a Japanese company) was purchased by a local developer known for downscale apartment construction. In order to squeeze in a giant apartment complex (filling the tropical forest hillside with concrete), they've shortened several holes and reconfigured others. The course is now TOO SHORT for pro use, and turning the first hole into a par three is just a crime.
Another local course at Palm Cove (formerly Novotel Golf Course) has been completely sold off to developers for apartments as well. This means that the beaches area of Cairns will no longer be a proper destination for golfers.
I can't imagine what is going in in Cairns, where developers are running rampant with high-density projects. This is a country the size of the USA with the population of New York. There would seem to be little reason to be converting golf courses, which are basically public parkland, into housing.
Paradise Palms, is paradise no more!"
Re Anonymous comments.
Yes, the DA application is alot to digest. One could only pick it up from CRC on a disk and it involves at least 4 lots of land including the Golf Course.
Of course, we would not be in this position of having to defend this golf course for the second time, if the previous council had not overturned the Planning Scheme and set the precedent, not to mention changing the CairnsPlan so that the current DAs fit into the planning scheme. The fact that this developer is trying again so soon, means that the golf course is indeed to be carved up into residential parcels and sold off at a huge profit.
Whilst we are hopeful that the new Council will not allow this to happen, we cannot be complacent and rely on this. It is up to everyone who cares about this issue to make a stand, and show this new council, that the public do not want our only large sporting facility including an 18 holed internationally renowned and unique golf course on the Northern Beaches of Cairns to disappear where others have gone before, when there is plenty of land for residential living between the Barron and Smithfield yet to be built on.
The Paradise Palms Country Club as it is now known has over 1,000 members and is well patronaged by international and Aussie visitors alike.
A lot of golfers are going to NZ for their golfing holiday.
On my recent vist back to NZ, I overheard some golfers talking in the Departure lounge. They had played many of the golf courses in NZ and were going back to the States to tell their friends to go to NZ. http://www.bestofgolfnewzealand.com/
They went for Golf but found much more.
Its a catch 22. To keep this golf course in tip top shape would cost heaps.
I'm keen on golf but I've never played Paradise Palms, it simply costs far too much. I'm also a local, when I'm in form I could probably land a good 3 wood on the course from my place, but in the 16+ years i've lived at this address I have rarely seen the course busy, even fewer patronise it in the last couple of years.
It will never be viable as a golf club while the green fees are so high but I doubt it will ever get back into the top 10 courses without generating additional income in some manner.
Whatever happened to Tom's promise to get the clubhouse up and running as a restaraunt / function venue etc. I remeber when he bought it he stated he was not much interested in golf and I suspected this was on the card. The intent has always been pretty clear.
This aint a bogey its a bogus.
I have read all you have on this site regarding the Paradise Palms Country Club & Golf Course and I too am worried that one day it may be carved up, but I would like to draw your attetnion to a few errors, firstly the new course will be longer and better than the old and the restrauent is open and the food is fabulous as are the wine dinners that they host every month. And the golf course is very busy so the person who says that business has slowed over the past few years has obvioulsy not tried to get on the course - it is nearly always full!!! I urge anyone who cares about keeping our sport and recreation areas for the next generation to write to your local member, council and Cairns Post letter to the editor.
Lets post it like it really is and cut the smoke screens.
I just received my copy of Mays Rock News Division3 news letter.
In that Rock News Cr Pyne states his salary at $88590.00 which it is but he goes on to say there is a regional amalgamation loading but he neglects to spell out what that is.
It is $8230 so put that with his salary that takes him to $96820.00 not to bad.
He posted this to dispute the rumor that councillors were paid over $100k pa.
Well Rob you are correct but I tell you what it's pretty close mate.
good stuff croc!
And how come the so-called full-time councillors are allowed to have other jobs and 'roles" and nothing is done about it! Remember a public service full-time week is probably a 36hr pw as well. One's got to remember as well that the CRC Councillors will also get many free meals, travel and other things paid for, these perks will push it over $100k
Hey Croc, I didn’t ask for it - and I believe it (the amalgamation loading) decreases dramatically the next year and then ceases (permanently). I stand to be corrected on the detail, as this has not been part of my recent focus. Certainly I will never be paid $100K or more.
In answer to the question by ‘a person’ they all work full time or should. I certainly took a nuisance dog call at 1.00am this morning. If any councillor does take on another job that is inappropriate, but the Local Government Act makes it clear who should pass judgment on a councillor that does this – it is the constituents of a culprit in question.
As far as free meals go, about half-a-dozen sandwiches is the limit of what I have been exposed to so far.
I don’t have much time to visit this blog these days, but keep up the good work in making Council accountable.
Warm Regards,
Cr. Rob Pyne.
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