CONCERNED residents have gathered to warn a proposed 17-lot subdivision at Hastings Point would have major negative impacts on the surrounding community and local environment.

Developer Walter Elliot Holdings Pty Ltd is looking to establish 16 residential blocks on Lot 156 Creek St and is appealing Tweed Shire Council's deemed refusal of the proposal.

Dozens of residents attended an on-site Land and Environment Court of NSW hearing on Thursday to air their concerns about the proposed development of the site that is bounded by Cudgera and Christies creeks and the Cudgen Nature Reserve.

The hearing will continue this morning in the Tweed Heads Local Court before transferring on Monday to the Land and Environment Court in Sydney.

During the on-site hearing residents informed Commissioner Sue Morris the site is a floodplain and that land fill works carried out by original developers had adversely impacted the surrounding environment and community.

Nearby resident Richard Gow said the issue had been ongoing for more than 30 years and residents were still paying the price for past mistakes.

"The original developer filled in the natural tributary and restricted water flow and he realised he had made a mistake, he even flooded his own property,” he said.

"He punched a hole through to Christies Creek to let the water out and that's how it's been left but instead of dealing with it they are trying to put a development in.”

Council has rejected previous sub-division proposals for the site, expressing concerns about the impacts they would have on the surrounding ecological communities.

Newly elected councillor Chris Cherry was one of six speakers who addressed the hearing and she urged Comm Morris to consider the broader impacts of the proposal.

"The Tweed Coastal strip is under quiet a lot of development pressure for higher and higher density,” she said.

"I would urge your consideration not only of the immediate surrounds of the development but that on the wider community.”

Cr Cherry also raised concerns about the developer's push to reduce the buffer zone between the development and the estuary from 75 metres to 50 metres.

The hearing is set to conclude Wednesday.