Dear News Of The Area,
WE have been living in Tea Gardens / Hawks Nest (TGHN) area for 4 years, and it is lovely, but dangerously under-developed. There seems to be no vision/plan about how it should develop – and it will develop with 1,000 plus new home builds approved.

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We have seen a 27% increase in rates, but no corresponding increase in infra-structure, recreational or cultural amenities. What has happened to our Section 94 funds?
We have a dangerous intersection at PUMA/COLES and a dangerous narrow bridge connecting the communities, neither of which are fit for purpose during holiday times. There is a 50 year old dilapidated building as a community hall, and an outdated outdoor swimming pool, neither of which are fit for purpose.
We have a Surf Club and a Golf Club that are woefully under-developed if TGHN wants to attract high added value tourists and not just day trippers with Eskis and home-made sandwiches who contribute little to the local economy.
With a Sydney-centric state government intent on spending $Billions on prestige sports stadiums that remain half-empty, and toll highways that become giant parking lots, and a Taree-centric regional government intent on spending $Millions on prestige offices – and no effective local government – there seems little chance of any meaningful development.
To continue to issue building licences without any planned cultural and recreational development is a recipe for social disaster: boredom, drugs and rising crime rates. Leadership and vision are desperately needed.
Mike Richards
Tea Gardens
Interesting commentary, one must ask “dangerously underdeveloped “ compared to where, what?
Why do we need greater population density?
This is not a feeder locality, nor an outlying suburb of a major city. Most have stayed here or come her because of the areas’ existing character, and some bemoan the continued banal, characterless suburban development of the past 15 or so years.