JIM FAGAN
Tewantin mother and local business owner, Natalie Miller, is frustrated and upset that Virgin Blue boss Sir Richard Branson wants to make money at the expense of her family and her neighbours with his intention of making his Makepeace Island a boutique resort.
Thirty-one year-old Natalie has a three-year-old year old son and is expecting another baby in five months. On behalf of residents at Cambridge Court, which fronts the island in Noosa River, she and husband, Ben Northling, have written to Noosa Council asking it to “take a strong stance against the numbers of people allowed on the island, loud music and the activity level of the island’s noisy diesel barge.” The appeal to council is timely. Just before de-amalgamation Makepeace Island (Operations) Pty Ltd received approval from Sunshine Coast Council to convert the 9.3 hectare island into a boutique resort subject to conditions which limited guests to 20 and amplified music not being audible between 10pm and 7am. The company has appealed to the Planning and Environment Court against what it calls the “unreasonable conditions” and tonight, as the issue is now their responsibility, Noosa councillors will decide if council will defend the appeal. Council planning officers and its planning and organisation committee have already recommended that it do so. “We bought this house in 2006 before Sir Richard bought the island and our plan was to raise our family here but, if the noise and island activities escalates, we’ll end up moving,” said Natalie. “A school friend’s family owned this house before we bought it and I’ve been coming here for many years. This is a very private and quiet area. At the beginning we thought it was going to be okay for Sir Richard and his staff to have somewhere to have a holiday. “But when there’s a function on the island it can be lights, camera, action with the big noisy diesel barge going back and forth taking supplies or people to the island. When that settles, we have the amplified music in the evening which can be heard while we are eating dinner or in bed.” She said most of the 20 objectors were retired people who wanted to keep the river front a quiet residential and private area with no escalating noise levels. “There has to be restrictions for us to cope. When I’m putting my son to bed I don’t really want to hear loud music or escalated noise levels on a consistent basis.” Asked if Cambridge Court had considered objecting to the boutique island development application, Natalie explained that she made an informal objection and wrote a detailed letter to the Sunshine Coast Council last July once she became aware of the proposed application. The residents were then waiting for the notification period so they could formally object as a group. “We missed the announcement because the notification sign on the island couldn’t be seen from our homes, and the announcement was made in media we don’t read every day. “Over the years they keep asking for something more and it keeps getting approved. And now the residents here are saying enough is enough. We live here, too, and we want to take a stand against it. “How on earth did this beautiful, natural habitat and a quiet residential area become an environment for events like the “The X Factor”? In August last year Makepeace hosted the Channel 7 talent show The X Factor, with guests Guy Sebastian and Natalie Bassingthwaite, which resulted in complaints to council. “It was a big scale production with intense lighting and loud music,” said Natalie. Makepeace Island was bought in 2007 and completed in 2009 as a private retreat for family and friends of Sir Richard and Virgin Blue co-founder, Brett Godfrey.
