I'M A CELEBRITY DON'T Get Me Out Of Here!

It’s a global TV juggernaut that injects $13m a year into our regional economy. Now it may be forced out by a local council’s crazy car cap.

IT attracts more than 10 million viewers in the UK every episode, generates hundreds of local jobs and injects $13 million into the Tweed economy.

But the makers of reality TV show I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here are threatening to pack up and go elsewhere because authorities won’t let them have more than 80 vehicle access their set a day.

Tweed Shire Council will tomorrow night consider whether to slug television giant Granada a maximum $200,000 fine because it continually breaches its vehicle quota on Dungay Creek Rd, near Murwillumbah.

The council introduced the limit in December 2016 after neighbours complained the road Granada helped pay to seal was overloaded with trucks and trailers.

“The figure (80) was provided by Granada,” council director of planning Vince Connell said yesterday. “However, they only based it on hired vehicles and shuttle buses entering site. It did not factor in the various suppliers.”

The council forced Granada to install traffic monitors on Dungay Creek Rd.

They found the TV company breached the quota 46 times — later reduced to five — during filming late last year. It was fined $6000.

There were a further 36 breaches — reduced to six — from January to February during the filming of its German series.

The possible penalties council will impose tomorrow night include the maximum $200,000 fine, negotiate a new vehicle cap, and legal action.

Granada executives were not available for comment yesterday. However, in its submission to council, the company said: “We believe it is not practicable for Granada to strictly adhere to an 80 vehicle limit per day, every day, if the program is to continue at its location.”

I’m A Celebrity …. Get Me Out of Here! pits 12 B-class celebrities against each other in a variety of tasks. The audience votes on who is kicked off the show.

Contestants since the first series was filmed in 2002 include cricketer Phil Tufnell, Vicky Pattison, Princess Diana’s butler Paul Burrell, Jason Donovan, producer David Gest, Star Trek’s George Takei and Olympic champion Linford Christie.

The council report said Granada had received two complaints over the past year — one for a truck speeding, and another for a vehicle driving in the middle of the road.

However, Tweed councillor Chris Cherry said she had heard of more complaints from residents and they needed to be investigated before a decision could be made.

Destination Tweed chief executive officer Rose Wright said she understood the council’s position, but the value of the show to the community “significant”.

“A lot of local companies supply the show (and) it has created employment.”

GOLD Coasters will be shaking their heads in disbelief at the folly of elected representatives, although there is some consolation in the knowledge that in one instance the problem lies across the border.

It is astounding to learn the previous LNP government under then-premier Campbell Newman sought legal advice in 2012 on ditching the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which the Gold Coast hosted last month and, as history now shows, was successfully staged and set the city on course for an exciting future.

The Newman government’s motivation was unclear. Currumbin MP Jann Stuckey says she “certainly wasn’t made aware’’ advice was canvassed, yet she was the Games minister at the time. This suggests someone in the hierarchy was contemplating an extremely serious move, possibly without consulting the minister responsible. Had the government pulled out of the Games or moved it, the cost to Queensland would have been enormous, with damage to the city’s and state’s reputations off the scale.

Meanwhile in the Tweed, a list of bizarre rulings keeps growing. The council is contemplating a heavy penalty for Granada, which pours money into the shire as it films the I’m A Celebrity UK and German series. The argument hinges on vehicle movements on a local road, with a strict limit set by the shire jeopardising future production – and the 80 jobs generated locally and hundreds more across Australia.

The mayor and her mates support protesters opposed to the NSW Government’s gift of a new hospital. The mayor wants to review a previous shire decision to raise the dam wall to drought proof the Tweed.

The council wants to ban Adani mine contractors, which will affect shire projects. It opposed the much-needed instrument landing system for Gold Coast Airport. It tried to stop filming of a scene for the movie Aquaman at Hastings Point.

Councillors are far too precious for the shire’s good. They should move on.