FAREWELL POSSUMS – BARRY HUMPHRIES (1934–2023) The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 37 #46 • April 26, 2023 • www.echo.net.au
¨ƷëīëſëIJ ĶŕưĕƆƐĶīëƐĕĎ Īşſ żşƐĕŕƐĶëō ĪƖƐƖſĕ īſşƖŕĎƱëƐĕſ ƖƆĕ The region’s supplier of bulk water, Rous County, is undertaking groundwater studies at Tyagarah, according to Rous County Council’s Draft Operational Plan, now on exhibition. Rous supplies water to almost all Northern Rivers towns and villages, mostly via Rocky Creek Dam. The plans are part of its Future Water Project 2060. Alstonville and Woodburn groundwater project plans are also underway. According to rous.nsw.gov.au/ future-water-for-our-region, ‘With growth set to continue across the Northern Rivers, demand for water from our regional supply is forecast to increase almost 40 per cent by 2060. At the same time, the amount of water available from our existing sources is forecast to decrease by over 20 per cent owing to changing climate conditions’. For more information visit www. rous.nsw.gov.au/on-exhibition.
Culture in the grass, May 7
Hans Lovejoy Council’s Business and Industry Committee looks set to continue without any representation from the business community, after the response to entice the business community to its meetings was ‘poor’. Additionally, Council staff have declined to name the community business member/s who attended the March 30 ‘workshop’ that followed the committee meeting. The committee, led by Mayor Michael Lyon, Crs Alan Hunter and Asren Pugh, is one of 16 that councillors and staff hold with members of the community. All are voluntary positions, and advise Council around planning, environmental, heritage, arts, and traffic matters, for example. Conductor Barry, with violinist Yana De Groot, fellow musicians and patrons prepare for their gig, Sunday May 7. Access is easy and on flat terrain, say organisers, and if the weather is inclement, the performance will be moved to the Stokers Siding Memorial Hall. For more info, see page 26. Photo Jeff ‘Renaissance Man’ Dawson
Byron Council’s plan to build affordable housing units above a public car park in Mullumbimby has hit a snag, with no community housing providers willing to accept its offer of a 49-year lease to run the project. But Mayor Michael Lyon says he remains 100 per cent committed to the scheme. Council has been working with the government-owned development corporation, Landcom, on the plan that would see 32 one-and-two-bedroom units built
North Coast news ▶ p6
at 57 Station Street; land that is currently in use as a busy car park in the centre of town. In August last year, Council and Landcom undertook a tender process in a bid to find a community housing provider (CHP) to deliver the project, offering potential applicants a 49-year lease on the property. However, a report on the matter contained in the agenda to this week’s Council meeting shows that neither of the two CHPs that responded to the tender process were willing to accept this key condition.
Cr Coorey floats legrope laws ▶ p7
Mystery biz members
Instead, the companies, Link Wentworth and Community Housing Ltd, both said Council would have to either sell or give them the land. Council staff noted in the report that this was a significant departure from what Council had offered, rendering the two tenders ‘nonconforming’, and recommended that both be rejected, ‘While Landcom’s terms and conditions of the market process allowed for non-conforming tenders to be submitted, it is considered that
the two submissions did not provide terms that would be acceptable to Council in their current form and would not warrant further evaluation,’ Council’s Director of Sustainable Environment and Economy, Shanon Burt, said in the report. The evaluation committee for the tender process, made up of staff from Landcom and Council, has advised councillors that direct negotiations cannot occur with either of the tenderers and that it should ‘terminate the current market process’. ▶ Continued on page 4
The Echo asked Council staff for more details around the last Business and Industry Committee meeting held, after the minutes did not disclose what member/s of the community were invited. The March 30 minutes say at the end of the councillor/staff meeting: ‘At this stage, invited business representatives joined the committee to participate in a workshop to discuss the Business, Industry and Visitor Economy Strategy.’ The Echo asked for the name/s of those business reps, and ‘Why isn’t an agenda published on what they discuss with councillors and staff?’ Director Sustainable Environment and Economy, Shannon Burt, told The Echo, ‘The committee was traditionally only councillors, then, at the last meeting in 2022, it was ▶ Continued on page 3
Cannabis laws steeped in racist US past ▶ p8
Byron’s Arts & Industry – a hive of creativity ▶ p20
Make your home into a wonderful space ▶ p28
ț ǔşſĎëćōĕ IJşƖƆĶŕīȜ żōëŕ şưĕſ ćƖƆƷ Ĉëſ żëſŊ IJĶƐƆ Ɔŕëī Paul Bibby
!şƖŕĈĶōȜƆ ćƖƆĶŕĕƆƆ ĈşŔŔĶƐƐĕĕ ƆƐſƖīīōĕƆ Ɛş ëƐƐſëĈƐ ŔĕŔćĕſƆ
Non-conforming tenders
Jonson Street, Byron Bay • 02 6685 6878 • www.byronbayservicesclub.com.au