ESSE EST PERCIPI – BISHOP GEORGE BERKELEY (1685–1753) The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 38 #16 • September 27, 2023 • www.echo.net.au
All you need is… a love sign
60-day cap granted New holiday letting rules announced
The LOVE is back in Mullum! Pictured is Paddock Project owner, Karen Gross, with Vikki Kite and Steve Rosewell from Studio Kite, who created the new sign with their 3D printer. The Paddock Project is a working market garden which employs 20 people with disabilities. For more info visit www.paddockproject.com. Photo ‘Jeff ‘Paddock To Plato’ Dawson
Urban increase blueprint unveiled She writes, ‘This is necessary to facilitate planning proposals for this land to meet Council’s housing target response to the Minister for Planning [Paul Scully]’. Before Council adopts such a policy, it needs to go on public exhibition, which has been flagged from October till November. The Byron Shire Housing Options Paper and the ‘Residential Strategy Refresh process’ is in response to pressure applied to Council in August after then NSW planning chief, Marcus Ray, threatened to take Council’s planning powers away
Hans Lovejoy Extensive plans have been published by Council staff for the upcoming September 28 meeting that, if eventually adopted, could see upscaled urban development across the Shire via ‘infill, new release, existing zoned vacant land and living differently’. A ‘relaxation/variation’ of current policy that ‘protects farmland of state and regional significance’ is also recommended by report author, Shannon Burt, Director Sustainable Environment and Economy.
Homeless hub forced to cut vital services ▶ p2
Feros slaps ban on media visits ▶ p11
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unless it could be demonstrated how revised and higher dwelling targets could be achieved. The Byron Shire Housing Options Paper sets ‘a policy framework for how and where future housing in Byron Shire’s urban residential areas will be delivered for the next 20 years’. It pegs a number of 6,695 new homes. So will this ‘refresh’ of planning instruments facilitate meaningful change for those who cannot afford a home, let alone those who can’t find a rental? ▶ Continued on page 2
A short history of cruelty ▶ p12
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Lessons from the 1967 referendum ▶ p16
Byron a special case Scully’s press release continues, ‘Byron Shire’s housing pressures are different to other NSW locations, with the percentage of short-term rentals exceeding that of similar destinations’. ‘The return of non-hosted shortterm rental properties to permanent residency is only one part of helping to address housing supply and affordability issues in the Byron Shire, as noted by the Independent Planning Commission. ‘Before endorsing the Shire’s planning proposal, the NSW government asked Council to detail how it intended to improve housing supply, in addition to introducing the rental cap. ‘The Department of Planning and Environment will now work with Council to monitor its commitment to increase housing supply, over the coming year to achieve its broader housing supply commitments to deliver over 4,500 houses by 2041’. A broader STRA review will be undertaken later this year, he added.
The school holidays roll on ▶ p21
Byron’s A&I abuzz with creativity ▶ p24
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have relentlessly pushed for the community to be able to rein in unfettered short-term holiday letting. ‘I’m so proud of our community for not giving up. We are very grateful to the minister for seeing sense on this issue. It won’t be a panacea, but it will make a difference, and it is a lighthouse moment for councils across the state struggling to shift whole homes away from short-term online platforms into the long-term rental market’, Smith said.
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The NSW Labor government has approved a new cap on non-hosted short-term rental accommodation (STRA) for most of Byron Shire for 60 days per year, reducing it from 180 days per year. A press release on Tuesday morning by NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully, says the decision was in response to the Independent Planning Commission’s recommendation, and Byron Shire Council’s planning proposal ‘to encourage homes to be returned to the long-term rental market’. A 12-month transition period was also announced, and Council will be ‘responsible for monitoring compliance with the policy.’ Scully’s press release says, ‘Some precincts in Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads with high tourism appeal, near beaches and services, were identified by Council to operate without a cap – allowing for year-round use’. Exact precinct locations are yet to be released by the minister. Scully’s press release went on, ‘Hosted short-term rentals (where the host resides on the premises during the stay), are unaffected by this decision, and can be undertaken 365 days per year. Local state MP, Tamara Smith (Greens), told The Echo, ‘This is a huge win for our community and a testament to people power’. She said, ‘We will be pushing for it to come into effect sooner than 12 months in consultation with Council, as quite frankly, we don’t have time to wait given the extreme housing crises we are in’. ‘For over a decade the Greens
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