Woolies under fire as trees fall for new store
RESIDENTS have reacted with dismay after site works began to clear the way for a new supermarket development which was first approved in 2015.
Machinery moved onto a site on Brygon Creek Dr in Upper Coomera on Monday a week ago, tearing down trees to make way for a new Woolworths, 10 smaller stores and parks for 200 cars.
The development, adjacent to the entrance to Upper Coomera State College, will be the fourth Woolworths in the area when completed. The supermarket giant already operates stores at the Coomera Square Centre on Old Coach Rd, Oxenford Village on Cottonwood Pl and at the Coomera Town Centre.
Resident Virginia LeightonJackson said she was “so angry” to see work start on the site.
“I don’t want a Woolies one street over from me,” she said.
“And the traffic is already stupid through this section. … Poor animals – they are clearing right during nesting season.”
Planning documents reveal the developer, a Woolworths subsidiary called Fabcot Pty Ltd, had been granted permission for the removal of 60 “protected trees” to make way for the development, while 42 were to be retained.
A fauna spotter-catcher was to be present during the site-clearing operations.
Another resident, Belinda Lemos, was upset at “so many trees getting cut down”.
“How many supermarkets does one area need? It’s ridiculous,” she said.
An application for the development was first lodged with council on December 19, 2013, and was approved the following March but was then appealed in the Planning and Environment Court by developers of rival centres.
The court gave the project the go-ahead, with conditions, in February 2016.
Vegetation clearing at the site is expected to be finished by the end of next week, and construction work is set to begin mid-2023.