THERE'S been a frenzy of last minute lobbying over the Men's Shed at Pottsville, as supporters on both sides seek to make a last ditch plea to councillors ahead of Thursday's crucial vote.

Months of debate will come to a head tomorrow when Tweed Shire Councillors meet to vote on the granting of a five-year temporary licence for the Pottsville and District Men's Shed (PDMS) at Black Rocks sports field.

The debate has been vitriolic - particularly on social media - and caused enormous division within the usually tranquil Tweed Coast community as koala activisits lobby against the Men's Shed setting up shop on the sports oval fearing its potential impact on the nearly koala population.

But supporters of the PDMS claim it will have minimal impact on the koalas and fear the loss of their sporting amenities.

It follows two community gatherings in recent weeks, with hundreds of supporters coming out in support of both causes.

In a letter to councillors this week, PDMS president Michael Ryan drew attention to the similar location of a Men's Shed at Moggill in Brisbane's western suburbs, where their shed is located inside an old ranger's cottage close to the renowned Moggill Koala Hospital, run by the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.

"It has been brought to my attention that there is a Men's Shed within a koala habitat next to the Brisbane River in the Brisbane suburb of Moggill,” Mr Ryan said.

"In fact the Bellbowrie Men's Shed is in close proximity to the Moggill Koala Hospital. The area between the facilities is indeed a koala feed tree plantation and the area to the west running along the banks of the Brisbane River is prime koala habitat.

"I have rung the President of the Bellbowrie Men's Shed and he informs me that the shed has been established for three years in a disused National Parks caretaker cottage. The shed uses the cottage for meetings and arts and crafts. In that time they have built a workshop at the back of the cottage which is equiped with the usual wood working equipment. 　

"You will notice that directly across Priors Pocket Rd, only some 50m away, are residential houses. The president informed me that at no time have they received any complaints regarding noise or activities emanating from the shed.

"The Bellbowrie Shed has extremely good relations with the Moggill Koala Hospital and on a number of occasions vets and other staff members of the hospital have attended the shed to make presentations and interact with shed members. At no time has there been any suggestion or evidence that the shed location or its activities are in anyway detrimental to the local koala population.

"It beggars belief that our shed, on an open field, 20m from the nearest tree, will have the devastating results that have been put forward by opponents of the PDMS' temporary location on Black Rocks sports field.”

But his argument was quickly refuted by David Norris, president of the Threatened Species Conservation Society, who in his own response to councillors, said he had spoken with the Moggill Koala Hospital and there was "no evidence of a resident koala population in the area adjacent to the Moggill Men's Shed”.

"The caretaker's cottage was constructed around 1974-75 so noise and disturbance associated with the construction of a men's shed is not a factor, as is the case at Black Rocks,” Mr Norris said.

"Koalas have been known to traverse the area between the hospital and the river but not in the vicinity of the Men's Shed. Koalas in the Bellbowrie area are under serious threat from ongoing development, dog attack and vehicle strike.”

Mr Norris was among a group of protesters on Tuesday to rally outside the office of Richmond MP Justine Elliot, calling on Labor and Cr Reece Byrnes to reverse their decision to support the Men's Shed.

The group claimed there was greater support for their cause in the community and said ongoing community division would result if the shed went ahead at Black Rocks.

"A permanent, centrally-located site which does not impact on koalas will provide a win-win solution for PDMS, the community and koalas,” they said.