Light rail protestors call in top litigation lawyers

SOUTHERN Gold Coast residents fearful the push of the light rail to Coolangatta airport will destroy their idyllic beachside suburbs have called in top litigation lawyers as the fight against the tram extension plan ramps up.

Shine Lawyers will address a meeting of concerned residents at Palm Beach later this month to advise property owners facing resumptions of their legal rights.

But the lawyers say the controversial lightrail route down the Gold Coast Hwy from Burleigh Heads to

Coolangatta appears to be a “fait accompli” and residents’ only hope may be a massive protest campaign.

Stage 3 of the multi-billion-dollar tram system, which opened in 2014, is under way from Broadbeach to Burleigh and planning is well advanced for Stage 4 to Coolangatta.

The Palaszczuk government and Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate have been pushing the highway route, claiming it has majority business and resident support.

But many residents and local politicians strongly oppose the route, fearing traffic chaos, increased crime and impacts on the scenic

Burleigh Heads National Park and Tallebudgera Creek.

Protest groups have been formed and Trams Out of Palmy and Trams Out of Tugun signs have sprung up in the streets.

Shine Lawyers senior associate Glen Martin, who will address a residents’ meeting on July 22 at the Palm Beach Share and Care Centre, said there was widespread concern, with many locals feeling “confused and bullied”.

Mr Martin said “hundreds” of southern Gold Coast residents and landlords had received government letters indicating that their land could be impacted.

He said that despite the government embarking on more community consultation from this month, “my feeling is that it (the highway route) is effectively a fait accompli”.

He said a legal challenge was not an option and the only tactic for worried residents may be to protest and lobby the government.

“There have been examples where governments have been brought down by unpopular projects,” he said, citing the fall of the Goss Government over its plan to build a second Brisbane-Gold Coast highway through koala habitat in the 1990s.