ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT, AND ALSO SOME THAT NEEDS MORE EXERCISE The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 37 #35 • February 8, 2023 • www.echo.net.au
Mullumbimby rail corridor deals behind closed doors Hans Lovejoy
Protest gets results Protest co-organiser, Kol Dimond, used a loudspeaker outside Council to highlight that the unsafe roads in Upper Main Arm have breached Council’s duty of care. Photo Jeff ‘Putting The Pot In A Hole’ Dawson Hans Lovejoy Psst: want to get Council staff to do something about the appalling state of roads in your neighbourhood? Then organise a protest outside Council Chambers! By the time a hardy crew of Upper Main Arm residents had gathered on Thursday to highlight their dangerous and disintegrated road, Council road works crew had graded the worst bits that morning. It appeared the work residents were requesting for months took all of about four hours to complete. Prior to Council grading the road and the protest on Thursday, Council’s Director of Infrastructure Services, Phil Holloway, put out a lengthy press release around the challenges of road repairs in the hinterland, owing in part to a lack of funds. He said, ‘One of Byron Shire Council’s main areas of focus in 2023
is managing a $180 million program of flood recovery work designed to provide improvements and solutions to roads and bridges that will be able to stand up to future flood events’.
‘We are very aware that much of this work will be starting 12 months after the floods and it is a frustrating wait for those in our community who are negotiating damaged roads, bridges and causeways as part of their daily routine’. Holloway added, ‘a lot of work is happening behind the scenes,’ and that, like other affected councils, Byron Council has ‘never dealt with a disaster of this magnitude’. ‘For a small, regional council like Byron Shire, a damage bill of more than $180 million is beyond our financial capacity and we are working with the NSW government to secure funding and planning the
scope and detail of each project, and sourcing contractors, are not things that can be done quickly,’ he said. ‘At Upper Main Arm, reconstruction work is not expected to start until the second quarter 2023, pending approvals from Transport for NSW. In the meantime Council is looking at doing some temporary grading work as an interim measure until the reconstruction work gets underway. ‘Prior to Christmas the clearing of culverts was finished, along with some other emergency roadwork such as road pavement works at Palmwoods Road. ‘Council has also prepared applications for additional funding to improve the resilience of the Main Arm Road to withstand future flooding events. The results of the funding applications, which are expected in early 2023, will inform the extent and type of repairs’.
Richard Moloney tribute ▶ p6
Approved medicinal cannabis grown locally ▶ p8
Frustration acknowledged
Food Box celebrates ten years ▶ p4
With no consultation with either the Mullum Chamber of Commerce, the town’s residents association or the community at large, Council and the NSW Liberal-Nationals have announced a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop the town’s disused railway land into affordable housing and ‘associated infrastructure like public spaces, car parks and footpaths’. A press release announcement on Friday by Minister for Infrastructure, Rob Stokes, and Deputy Premier, Paul Toole, contained supporting comments by Mayor Michael Lyon. According to Council’s meeting agenda for Thursday February 9, General Manager, Mark Arnold, signed the MoU with a government representative in charge of public rail land on November 24, 2022, in a closed door meeting with the mayor. Councillors are being asked at this Thursday’s meeting to ‘note’ the MoU. The Echo asked Council staff why the MoU had not been made public until now, but there was no reply by deadline.
mş ƖżĎëƐĕĎ ǖşşĎ ĎëƐë The joint announcement for the land’s future is also not informed by the latest flood modelling. The DPE are yet to provide a now overdue Post Flood Analysis Report from the 2022 event, which saw much of the area submerged. That report was expected in December 2022. The Echo asked Cr Lyon, ‘Was there a reason there has been no communication with the business ess chamber, or the communityy at lar large, rge ge,,
Scoop-scoop -a-doop ▶ p20
regarding this proposal?’ ‘And, given such development may exacerbate flooding in the area, why isn’t Council seeking flooding advice prior to this MoU? Given the affordable housing SEPP delivers very little benefits for those seeking “affordable housing”, how will Council guarantee that this project will benefit those in need?’ Instead on answering these questions, he said he welcomed the government announcement, adding he has ‘lobbied the state government for some time, including the premier when I met with him last year’. He added the proposal was in ‘alignment with existing Council resolutions, the Mullumbimby Masterplan and my election campaign commitments. I am hopeful that we can get a result quickly on an extension of the Council car park into the rail corridor to alleviate the significant parking issues in town’. Yet former Mayor, Jan Barham, told The Echo, ‘The Mullum Masterplan was done in 2019, pre-flood, and should be revisited, as the sites where they propose housing are flood-affected’. Meanwhile local Greens MP, Tamara Smith, raised concerns because the affordable housing SEPP does not deliver much ‘affordable housing’. She told The Echo, ‘It sounds like a dud deal for us’. ‘Any project proposal where we lose public land should benefit the community 100 per cent, go through democratic processes, as well as flood and environmental studies first, and be designed for the future in terms of extreme weather and socia we social amenity’. Q See editorial, page 10
Love is in the air Valentine’s Day ▶ p22
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