A specialist in environmental law says renewed plans to develop a controversial site on the New South Wales north coast make a mockery of the state's court system.

The original plans to subdivide the Iron Gates site at Evans Head were quashed by the Land and Environment Court in the mid 1990s, when approval for the project was revoked just days before blocks were due to go on sale.

The proposal for about 650 houses was approved by the local council, but the developers breached their consent by clearing native vegetation that was supposed to be protected.

The court ordered the site be remediated, but the work was never done.

Al Oshlack led the campaign against the original proposal.

"[The developers were ordered] to completely rip up all the infrastructure on the site, roads, roundabouts, gutters, stormwater drains," he said.

"It was a very expensive order. I think it was one of the most expensive remediation orders ever given by the Land and Environment Court.

"[But] no work has ever been done in relation to the remediation at all."

Now a company run by the same developer has lodged a master plan for a 176-lot subdivision on the same site.

Application could set worrying precedent, solicitor says

New South Wales Environmental Defenders Office principal solicitor Sue Higginson said it was a situation that could set a worrying precedent.

"It does make a mockery of environmental law and our court system," she said.

"There is, without a doubt, quite a foul and bitter taste on the part of the environmental community.

"It's shown that you can do something significantly wrong, you can be prosecuted for that wrong [and] the court can make orders.



"But the fundamental lesson here is that if you are a proponent you [can] follow the leniencies that corporation law offers.

"You declare bankrupt and wind up the company but then you reinvent yourself in a new company.

"You're the same proponent, the same owner of land, you lodge a fresh application and the law says, oh we have to deal with this fresh application on its new merit."

The ABC has contacted the Department of Planning seeking clarification on the issues surrounding the Iron Gates site.

The department issued a statement saying it would carefully consider all submissions made during the consultation period, and work with partner agencies such as the Office of Environment and Heritage on coastal and environmental matters.