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Locals Are Furious About A 35M Tall Ski Jump Planned Near Byron Bay

"We have the biggest fight Lennox Head has ever seen on our hands and we are just going for it. We are not stopping until we see them out of town," says leader of the community opposition, Michelle Shearer.

A radical NSW State Government plan to build a 35 meter tall ski jump at Lake Ainsworth, between Lennox Head and Byron Bay, has erupted in controversy with locals promising they "will chain themselves to bulldozers" to stop it.

"This thing is gonna get ugly if they force this on us but we're prepared to do whatever it takes," says Michelle Shearer, spokesperson for Lennox Head Against The Ski Jumps.

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"People in the community are coming up to me and saying we will chain ourselves to bulldozers. We will get arrested for this," she says.

Image courtesy of Lennox Head Against Ski Jumps

The planned structure will rise out of the pristine forest like, erm, a giant ski jump, dwarfing the surrounding landscape.

It was originally planned for Jindabyne only to be abandoned following the death of "one of the main proponents," according to local newspaper, The Echo.

Brisbane became the next option before Queensland Premier Campbell Newman put a stop to that on the grounds it was be largely useless "luxury item."

So finally to Lennox Head. The sleepy coastal hamlet 15 minutes south of Byron Bay is home to some of the best surf in the world along with a sweeping natural vista that takes in pristine bushland and the Pacific Ocean. Each year thousands gather on the headland to watch the Humpback whales migrate north. A giant ski jump erected for a dozen or so specially trained athletes does not fit the scene, says Michelle.

"This thing is gonna be looming out like the tower of terror, plonked in the middle of the coastline, 38 meters all, 12 stories high. That is taller than the Cape Byron lighthouse. It's not far off the bloody Statue of Liberty. It's huge and it just doesn't fit with the area," she says.

Australia has two Olympic champions in aerial skiing - Alicia Camplin and Lydia Lassila. Three of the nation's five winter Olympics gold medals have come from skiing events.

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The jump will be built alongside the NSW Government Sport and Recreation facility in Lennox Head, with athletes preferring the temperate, sub-tropical climate to train in rather than launch jumps into a freezing lake in Jindabyne.

Since the Lennox Head furore erupted Page MP, Kevin Hogan, and Lismore mayor Isaac Smith have put their town's hand up to take the ski jump instead, seeing it as a welcome boost to the local economy following the devastation of the recent floods.

"Lismore has just been through quite a catastrophic event, we need to rebuild our economy and if Lennox doesn't want it, let's look to see if we can do it in Lismore," Mr Hogan said.

"This will be the only one of its type in the Southern Hemisphere, this will attract a new visitors to Lismore, it will attract economic activity because it will attract elite athletes to our region."

What economic boost the ski jump will deliver to the area, however, is an unknown. Despite being part of the government's sales pitch for the ski jump, it has since been revealed that no assessment of the economic benefits has actually been carried out meaning no one has any idea whether it will actually provide a boost for the local economy or how that might come about.

"I'm not aware of any comprehensive economic modelling carried out for the project," said chief executive of the New South Wales Office of Sport, Matt Miller, on ABC North Coast radio.

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"There's no economic benefits. It's a load of bollocks," says Shearer from the residents action group.

"It's gonna be catering too a dozen athletes, which is so insulting. They're gonna do that for 12 people? You can't get more elitest than that," she says.

The plans will ultimately be decided on by a Joint Regional Planning Panel, which has the power to bypass local council and residents. So far 200 objections to the Development Application (DA) for the jump have been lodged by concerned residents.

The Northern Rivers region, which includes both Lennox Head and Byron Bay, is widely regarded as the home of grass roots community activism in Australia. The area has famously warded off rainforest logging (Terania Creek, 1979), Coal Seam Gas mining (Bentley 2014), a proposed Mcdonalds, and many more small wins.

Shearer and her team of lawyers, town planners, landscape architects and media specialists can't wait to add another to the list.

"We have the biggest fight lennox head has ever seen on our hands and we are just going for it. We are not stopping until we see them out of town," she says.