A mooted mega commune near Byron Bay promoted by controversial celebrity cook Pete Evans has been knocked back by planning authorities.
Nightcap Village in the Tweed Shire was to be a 400-dwelling estate spread over 1500 hectares of land and was billed as an “off-matrix” lifestyle with no electricity or running water.
A website for the commune said it offered residents the chance to “get back to the tribal wisdom of living in harmony with Mother Nature, as well as the fundamental lore of doing no harm”.
Evans, who project founders said had a “long-term commercial arrangement” with them, fronted a number of promotions seeking investors for the commune’s development.
In a video shared to his 1.5 million Facebook followers, he invited fans to “create a new lifestyle”.
“This is walking it, this is living it. This is actually making a difference, I believe,” Evans said in the clip.
“And the difference it will make is showing that it can be done. Showing why it must be done, that it needs to be done, and for that to be replicated over and over and over.
“Self-reliance, self-empowerment, connection to Earth, connection to spirit, connection to each other. There’s not much else to say, but I’m f***ing in.”
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In another sales video, the embattled former judge on reality juggernaut My Kitchen Rules, said: “The philosophy or ethos is do no harm (and) that’s a pretty good f***ing philosophy.”
But the Northern Regional Planning Panel found the project, which is selling land lots for $290,000, would inflict significant harm on the environment.
It heard authorities held a number of environmental and safety concerns related to the concept and Tweed Shire Council submitted a report that found it would have “significant impact on the natural and environmentally sensitive areas, cultural heritage, areas of high ecological value and Koala habitat”.
Panel members unanimously rejected the proposal after a two-hour hearing, according to the ABC.
It’s not the first setback for the hippie commune, with an earlier version of development allegedly impacting on the savings of some investors.
Evans was last month confronted by a crew from A Current Affair about his involvement in the new scheme, but said the claims from scorned investors was “fake news” and “propaganda”.
Evans left his hometown of Sydney in the wake of his axing from Channel 7 to retreat to the Byron Bay region, where he opened a “health lab”.
The business spruiked a range of new age treatments, including a cryotherapy chamber exposing the body to low temperatures as well as red light therapy and a hyperbaric treatment chamber.
Less than a year after opening, Evolve Health Lab went to market with an asking price of $295,000, which the sales agent described as “below replacement cost”.
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Evans has attracted criticism from the medical community for promoting a range of bizarre health beliefs, from his involvement in the anti-vaccination movement to being a covid sceptic.
The former pizza restaurant cook has copped more than $100,000 in fines from the Therapeutic Goods Administration in recent months for flogging products that breached its guidelines, including a lamp he claimed could treat coronavirus.
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