THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 30 #52 Wednesday, June 8, 2016 www.echo.net.au Phone 02 6684 1777 [email protected] [email protected] 23,200 copies every week 100 PER CENT LOCALLY OWNED AND PAGES 22–23 CAB AUDIT INAPPROPRIATELY OPERATED Barb Pinter Dullards, bums, Art – what would Interview: Online in netdaily Postal voting remembered hacks and 30 years we do without it (be Alex Gow and starts soon – p14 of The Echo – p19 a neocon?) – p24, 25 Dan Kelly – p38 echo.net.au/postal-voting-starts-soon Storm brings aff ordable Seawall shemozzle housing opportunities without legal clarity Hans Lovejoy chased aft er 1988 were required to have a relocatable structure. With the June 14 public submission So how many properties are af- deadline for Council’s coastal policy fected by this policy? Staff told The looming, it’s emerged that there is no Echo, ‘In 2011, it was reported to legal clarity as to the the ownership Council that nine properties in the of, and liability for, the 1.1km seawall Belongil beachfront area had resi- proposal along Belongil beach. dential structures with provisions re- Council staff have told The Echo quiring the relocation of the entirety that ownership of a Belongil seawall of that development in relation to the is ‘yet to be determined’ and the position of the erosion escarpment’. funding agreement from landown- Th ey said, ‘Seven properties had ers would be drawn up aft er the structures with a partial restriction public consultation process. placed on the development, ie through And just as remarkable is that an approved alteration or addition to there appears no post-construction an existing structure. At the time of management to mitigate expected the audit, there were 28 properties in sand loss – not only for Belongil the Belongil beachfront area.’ Wild weather fl ooded many lower lying parts of the shire over the weekend, with evacuation calls for parts of Beach – but also for the neighbour- It’s also understood that the Ocean Shores and Billinudgel. Despite roads slips and road closures, ten people were rescued around the region ing Elements resort. planned retreat policy has never been from fl oodwaters on Sunday. Council staff say O’Mearas Bridge, on Binna Burra Road, was perhaps the most Seawalls are known to not only implemented owing to court chal- aff ected and is temporarily closed. Making the most of the storm were Molly-Rose and Roxy, who checked out erode beaches in front, but also lenges from Belongil landowners. the shire’s latest, aff ordable housing off ering at Brunswick Heads beach. Photo Jeff ‘Addorable Housing’ Dawson beaches adjacent. Other unanswered issues – should These are just two unclear as- the seawall plan be adopted – include pects of the the seawall component ecological, tourism and amenity im- $23m Bangalow food precinct plan unveiled within the draft Coastal Zone Man- pacts, which have all but been virtu- agement Plan Byron Bay Embay- ally ignored within the CZMP BBE. Chris Dobney state’s Joint Regional Planning Panel movements, visual amenity and ment (CZMP BBE), which comes Th at should be a major concern (JRPP) instead. Developer Bart Elias potential pollution of Byron Creek in a total of fi ve parts and 316 pages. for the community, says mayor Two of Byron’s iconic food brands and town planner Paul De Fina told (which runs through the property), Th e plan, by consultants WRL, Simon Richardson. say they will have to quit the Shire a packed Bangalow Progress Asso- most agreed with Mr De Fina’s prop- has been led vigorously – and some- within a year unless substantially ciation (BPA) meeting on Th ursday osition that, ‘the worst thing that what belligerently – by Crs Ibrahim, Unknown cost: mayor larger processing space can be evening that they had been looking could happen is seeing Byron Bay Woods, Hunter, Cubis and Wanc- He told The Echo the terms of found for them than anything cur- for 18 months to fi nd an appropri- Cookies produced in Melbourne hap. Mayor Richardson, Crs Dey, ongoing ‘adaptive’ measures within rently available. ate site to build at least two 5,000 [where owner Rinoldi is based].’ Cameron and Spooner have consist- the plan are unknown, as is the cost. Th at’s the urgency behind plans square-metre factories for anchor ently voted against the plans. ‘Th is was one of the main rea- to build a 20-acre ‘food precinct’ tenants Brookfarm and Salumi. Cottage business The seawall proposal aims to sons the previous CZMP ultimately opposite the existing Bangalow in- They could soon be joined by The development would also reverse a policy of planned retreat, proposed planned retreat over sand dustrial estate on Lismore Road. a third world-famous shire-based include several smaller commer- which has existed for around 30 years. transfer, or beach-scraping options. Because of the scale and cost brand, Byron Bay Cookies, which is cial kitchens for cottage businesses Th ose who purchased a Belongil ‘Unlike now, the earlier CZMP of the proposed development ($23 also looking to expand. requiring occasional usage as well beachfront property prior to 1988 sought to have questions on impacts million) it will bypass Byron Shire And while the meeting heard as a barn that could provide space appear exempt under planned re- and costs and logistics answered Council and be considered by the about residents’ concerns over truck continued on page 2 treat policy, whereas those who pur- continued on page 7 “I love showing people how they can beat the electricity network and save money with solar power. Take Back Your Power! Why support big coal and CSG companies to profit from Solar Energy 24 Hours A Day your electricity use? Take back your power Now!” Why pay for electricity when it is cheaper to make your own? 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Th e Greens campaign HQ in Th e proposal trumps By- Mullumbimby has expand- ron Shire Council’s equally ed, and moved from Santos contentious ‘food hub’ plan for Health Foods to the old bank the old RMS donga site, with building just down the street. both Brookfarm and Salumi And in town to give can- confi rming to The Echo that it didate Dawn Walker a boost was unsuitable for them. was Greens QLD MLC Lar- issa Waters. Both held an Rowdy meeting evening for the party faithful At times it was a rowdy and otherwise curious at the meeting, which had to be A concept plan of the 20-acre food precinct proposed for Byron Bowling Club on Mon- The brought to order by BPA Bangalow Road day night. Ms Waters told Echo she hears consistently president Tony Hart. Mr De 5,000sqm to 10,000sqm each 2,000sqm but it was going to Co-deputy leader of the federal Greens, Larissa Waters, from around Australia about Fina exacerbated matters by over time. But this he said was be too small. We’re now go- was in the shire Monday to support candidate Dawn the need for multinationals to referring to some women necessary to cater for expan- ing backwards and forwards Walker. She’s pictured in front of the new campaign HQ in pay their share in taxes and questioners as ‘darl’ and ‘love’, sion over a 10-year timeline. between sheds. We tried to Mullumbimby. Photo Jeff ‘Mixing Banks And Greens’ Dawson resulting in some sarcastic re- ‘It looks large from an aer- look in the Byron Arts & In- reining in political donations sponses from the audience. ial point of view but the view dustry Estate and elsewhere from big corporations. dress the environmental ca- solution election, all the seats At one stage he pointedly from road [will be] minimal,’ but this is going to be the best She has also been a strong tastrophe at the Great Barrier of lower and upper house MPs asked the audience if they he said. solution. campaigner on the need to ad- Reef. As part of a double-dis- will be up for grabs. had read the 550-page DA in ‘We want to employ more its entirety, to which two said Brook family plea people,’ Will Brook said. that they had. Members of the Brook Co-founder Martin Brook Broken Head development dismissed But that didn’t negate a family, owners of Brookfarm, said the business had started Th e Land and Environment gal team also said it did not cember 2015 the then-acting range of concerns, highest on said the estate would be good on their macadamia farm at Court have dismissed an ap- meet the current and future senior commissioner dis- the list being a substantial in- for Bangalow and increase St Helena ‘and our fi rst fac- peal by a proponent to build desired character of the area.