THE possibility that plans for a neighbourhood shopping centre at Seabreeze may be ditched and the land used for housing has raised the ire of the woman who led a battle to stop the centre becoming a regional shopping complex.

President of the Pottsville Beach Business Association Tania Murdock says it is proof that the developers do not have the needs of the community at heart.

Tweed Shire Council has confirmed the developers would not need a rezoning to use the site for housing but would still need council approval of a fresh development application.

Developers of Seabreeze estate, Newland Developments, declined to comment on the issue, simply saying the company is developing according to their approvals.

In 2008 Ms Murdock led a battle against plans to turn the site into a regional shopping complex which would have competed with existing businesses in Pottsville.

Ms Murdock said it was no surprise the company had walked away from promises to earlier home buyers to provide a small shopping centre.

“That's not appealing to the developers. They need to make it big to make their money,” she said.

Ms Murdock said the same had happened with plans to set aside land for a school, which the NSW Education Department had since indicated it was not interested in building.

The council's director of planning Vince Connell said the originally approved town centre lot had been retained but the developers were “focusing on advancing the redevelopment of the other approved residential lots”.

He said if the developers produced a revised proposal for residential development “they would not require a rezoning but would need to lodge a development application and would need to justify the departure from the current DCP requirements”.

“It is permissible under the current Residential 2(c) zone ... to build a total residential development, but in this case, the prevailing council planning policy and earlier development consent have identified a specific site appropriate for neighbourhood shops,” he said.