Property owner seeks clearing work approval with environmental offset
By Sonia Isaacs
THE owners of a Beerwah strawberry farm accused of clearing 250,000 square metres of vegetation have offered to pay Sunshine Coast Council almost $2.5 million in environmental offsets months after being issued with a show cause notice.
Donnybrook Berries Property Holdings Pty Ltd, was issued with the notice by SCC in July this year “for an offence under the Planning Act 2016 (Qld)” after the council was made aware of the clearing at 384 Mawsons Rd, Beerwah.
The property is currently being partly used as a strawberry farm.
“Council’s records indicated that no development permit has been issued for the vegetation clearing on the subject property and therefore considered the works is unlawful,” A letter from a Council officer, dated July 19, stated.
The Sunshine Coast property, which falls under seven environmental overlays, including biodiversity, bushfire, and flood hazards requires code assessment due to the presence of non-exempt vegetation.
The cleared area includes 171,363m2 of Category B native vegetation necessitating an operational works application under local and state planning regulations.
The area includes over 122,400 m2 of designated koala habitat.
Council records show the company lodged an ‘operational works’ application for a code assessable development project in November 2024.
In the application the company stated that “the clearing has already occurred onsite and will meet the Vegetation Management Code through the use of environmentally applied offsets” “The total monetary offset has been calculated to be $2,485,120.64, alternatively, replacement planting (notional off sets) equates to 56.2996 hectares.”
A Council spokesperson said the council was “reviewing” the matter following revelations reported in GC&M News that the clearing had occurred without approval.
“An initial investigation by Council development compliance off icers identified a significant area of native vegetation had been cleared on the property,” a spokesperson said.
“The relevant area is mapped as protected vegetation and is subject to Council’s Biodiversity, Waterways and Wetlands Planning Scheme Overlay map and classed as Category B remnant vegetation and core koala habitat area under State Assessment Mapping.
“While this matter is under review we cannot provide further comment.” sonia@gcnews.com.au
