EXPECTING SOME NEW DISASTER OR FASHION SINCE 1986 The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 38 #41 • March 20, 2024 • www.echo.net.au
Surf’s up for adaptive comp Rezonings adopted Paul Bibby A housing strategy heralding a profound shift in the built environment and character of the Byron Shire has been approved by Byron Council. After years of planning and debate, councillors voted last Thursday to endorse the Byron Shire Residential Land Strategy 2041, a plan that proposes the construction of more than 5,300 new dwellings across the Shire. Driven by a combination of demands from the state government, population growth, and Byron Council’s response to the local housing crisis, the strategy paves the way for multiple, large housing developments and a Shirewide practice of infill development and increased density.
New suburb at Saddle Rd
The World Pro-Adaptive Surfing Titles 2024, held at Byron’s beaches, as captured on Tuesday by Jeff Dawson. Mia Armitage
on Monday morning. ‘The banks were really good at Clarkes and Tommo’s,’ Mono said. UK competitor Spike Kane uses a wheelchair, and says the free event at Byron’s Main Beach will be a life-changing spectacle.
Favourable conditions are expected for the rest of the World Pro-Adaptive Surfing Titles 2024, which kicked off at Byron Bay’s Main Beach on Monday. The four-day international competition series features more than 90 competitors from 16 nations. Longtime Byron Bay local surf legend and World Pro-Adaptive Surf Champion, Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart, is this year’s event director. Mono says the banks still looked good in the lead-up to the comp, despite a hazardous surf warning from the Bureau of Meteorology
‘What you’re gonna see is just purely a celebration of life,’ Mr Kane says, ‘I think if you come down and you watch the competition you will go away a different person’. More than 40 Australians are competing in this year’s event, including several newcomers, against professional surfers from the US, Canada,
Q&A around Mullum’s CBD upgrade plans ▶ p4
Terania blockade film to support Wallum cause ▶ p9
Celebration of life
Brazil, France and Japan to name a few of the countries represented. There are more than 20 women featured in the line-up, with competitions to start from around 8am each day, depending on conditions, and ending around 1pm. Food stalls, beach access matting and several chairs are to be available to the public, with all ages and abilities welcome to attend, Mono says. The event was launched with a parade through Byron Bay’s CBD on Sunday, culminating in a Welcome To Country smoking ceremony and pouring-of-the-sands ceremony on-site.
The power of people versus the people in power ▶ p10
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The area of semi-rural land at The Saddle Road, Brunswick Heads would be completely transformed under the strategy, becoming home to as many as 1,500 new dwellings. Mullumbimby would have more than 1,200 new homes, many of which will come from new land releases on the town’s fringes, and the Byron Bay/Sunrise area will host an additional 1,100 houses. There are also significant new release areas in Suffolk Park, Bangalow, Brunswick Heads, and the Ocean Shores/New Brighton/South Golden Beach area. In total, there are 17 new housing release areas contained in the strategy, paving the way for a series of large housing developments with the potential to transform parts of the Shire. Another key element of the strategy is increased housing
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Healing on the Northern Rivers ▶ p18
Residential Land Strategy 2041 Q 17 new land release
areas were adopted for rezoning by councillors last week Q Flood-prone land
included, yet contentious parts of Mullum’s east removed Q Includes infill
development and increased density Q Broad 11.5m height limit
across release areas, which were proposed by planning staff, were removed by councillors density in existing residential areas, with Council now likely to amend local planning rules to facilitate higher density development in both low-and medium-density areas. For example, the residential strategy specifically states that the minimum lot size for all low-rise medium-density housing ‘may decrease from 800m2 to 600m2 in suitable areas’. This reduction, should it be introduced, would significantly change the character of existing residential areas over the next 25 years. Mayor Michael Lyon said that these and the other measures in the strategy were necessary ‘to house our people’, pointing to the hundreds of locals sleeping rough, and many thousands more ▶ Continued on page 6
The Princess of Pop is coming to Splendour ▶ p20