Crighton Properties has entered into a Voluntary Planning Agreement with Great Lakes Council to ensure the Riverside development contributes to a number of facilities in the town.

Facilities will include an upgrade to the foreshore in Tea Gardens and benefits to other community services such as library services and lifesaving clubs.

A 1045 lot Riverside development in Tea Gardens is being approved by the NSW Department of Planning.

Crighton Properties managing director, Geoff Cox, has confirmed that the planning for the development is nearing completion and he hopes that the NSW Department of Planning will approve the public exhibition of the proposal in the near future.

The Department of Planning is the approving authority for this project because of the size of the development and the location of the project, in what is known as a coastal zone.

Before the development is finished, a total of $8,862,438 will have been spent in the community under the Voluntary Planning Agreement.

Under the Great Lakes Council section 94 plan, all development applications must contribute to community services such as surf lifesaving and library services.

$792,835 will be spent on these services under section 94.

Under the Voluntary Planning Agreement, Crighton Properties will contribute further funds that will go towards upgrading Myall St and a community centre.

Myall St will be upgraded in two stages.

The first stage will include the stretch of road between BiLo and the bridge and the funding will be received before the registration of the 300th lot.

A second stage will upgrade Myall Street between the northern roundabout and Toonang Dve.

Funding for this upgrade will be received before the registration of the 600th lot.

Council will receive $1.13 million in cash for a community centre in Tea Gardens because a centre has not yet been established.

Council can then decide at a future date, if, where and what cost is needed to purchase land for a centre.

$758,943 alone will be spent on the upgrading of the Tea Gardens foreshore and the establishment of a number of cycle ways around the town.

Director of Planning and Environmental services at Great Lakes Council, Glenn Handford said the funding would allow development to be “tailored to the needs of the town.”