Wallum – Community Land Acquisition Initiative (CLAI)

Wallum Heathland, Brunswick Heads

The Wallum Heathland is a landscape on Simpson’s Creek in Brunswick Heads that is threatened with development for the construction of 124 residential lots and 3 medium density lots.

This high conservation value land represents the last 1%of Wallum heathland and woodland in Byron Shire NSW and is home to 24 threatened species, including EPBC Federally listed Threatened Species and is a place of great cultural significance for Bundjalung people. It harbours old growth scribbly gums and wildflowers, and has not been previously damaged by sand-mining or agriculture, making this ecosystem largely pristine.

The Historically Approved Development Application arcs back to 2006, or earlier, and was resurrected in 2021 in the midst of Covid restrictions, with an extremely limited 2-3 weeks of ‘public’ consultation process during lockdowns. In a Shire of 36,000 residents, only 200 residences were informed, from which 13 submissions were filed at a 100% objection rate. This is in contrast to over 1000 letters of concern received by Byron Shire Council by the wider community since they became aware of the DA in September 2023.

There is enormous public interest in the site on numerous grounds, including the significant negative impact of any development on this delicate ecology, wherein which there are numerous species on the brink of extinction.

The community regularly and historically use this area for bushwalking and river access down the crown road that runs through the site. Some people have been bushwalking in that area for over 30 years, appreciating the serenity and peacefulness of the stunning wildflowers in this abundant, biodiverse area of supreme natural beauty. The site has become a nexus for unprecedented public engagement and education about local ecology.

The Brunswick Heads Wallum site is not an appropriate location for further urban subdivision at all. This incredibly beautiful site should be a public wildflower reserve and recognised for the rare and valuable ecological communities present, along with the incredible and rare wildlife.

With the exception of the Glossy Black Cockatoo and the Grey Headed Flying Fox, these species are all different from those listed in NSW in 2011. As stated, the NSW listed Threatened Species list has now also increased for the site since the first assessments in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and certainly since the 2011 Concept Plan was submitted for approval, which is what the current DA (10.2021.575.1) is based on with the certificate 34A that allows for exemption from current standards of ecological and cultural assessment.

Read detailed information regarding cultural heritage and ecological biodiversity

For more information or to make an enquiry regarding the Wallum Heathland at Brunswick Heads, please contact us

Community Land Acquisition Initiative.

Community Land Acquisition Initiative - Wallum is a blueprint for politicians, philanthropists and developers to use existing biodiversity and carbon credit instruments, the newly legislated nature repair market, community and philanthropic pledges, and federal, state and local allocations and concessions - including NEMA's multi-billion dollar disaster fund, the national reserve system, and planning frameworks - to purchase Zombie DA's and other land parcels that sit within flood and high conservation areas. This is a solution focused initiative to protect and preserve our shared natural assets and ensure our collective future.

Community Land Acquisition Initiative is committed to securing areas of high cultural and ecological value through acquisition.