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C R E AT I N G RA I N B O W S S I N C E 1 9 8 6 The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 41 #03 • July 1, 2026 • www.echo.net.au
Sanctuary Writers Festival program with this issue!
14—16 Augus t
Byron Bay
byronwritersfesti val.com
Public meeting called over Mullum carpark DA
Searching for our Common Wealth
Aslan Shand
Kane Guglielmi, maker of the film Common Wealth which screens in Byron on 10 July at Byron Theatre followed by a Q&A. Kane has spent four years filming around the world exploring why economic systems are so broken and what individuals can do to change their world. Read more page 28. Photo Jeff ‘$$$???’ Dawson
Locals losing their homes for luxury $2.5m retirement flats Aslan Shand For Kerry Pauley and the six other remaining permanent residents at the Glen Villa Resort on Butler Street, Byron Bay, news of the luxury retirement village that has been proposed for the site at 80-86 Butler Street has been devastating. ‘When I sold my house in South Golden Beach and moved here 12 years ago this was my retirement home,’ Kerry told The Echo. Kerry points out that she
thought very clearly about where she would set herself up for her retirement and chose this site because ‘it’s flat and close to town. I knew that once I couldn’t drive I’d still be able to walk to town to get shopping and catch up with friends.’ ‘I went through several interviews to be approved to buy this house and was told by Peter Croke, who originally owned this place, it has now gone to his daughter, he told me that it would never be sold. He told that to the others who
bought in as well. He even told one person that the property was in trust so it couldn’t be sold.’ When permanent residents bought in they were buying the home they would be living in and leasing the land it sat on from the Glen Villa Resort. ‘I pay a lease for the land,’ explained Kerry. ‘I own the house, which I must maintain myself. They do absolutely nothing for me. I’ve got to do everything myself to the house you know,
Bay FM’s Mia Armitage heads to Germany ▶ p4
Mandy Nolan wins Greens Ballina preselection ▶ p7
School holidays fun zone ▶ p19
and they don’t even mow the lawn.’ Unfortunately, for the permanent residents the developer DD Resort Living is putting together a development application (DA) for this site called Oasis Byron Bay, and the site of 12 Bay Lane as an affiliated club house, for luxury retirement living with one-bedroom flats starting for lease at $2.5 million. When Kerry first heard the rumours that the Glen Villa cabin, caravan, and camping site was on ▶ Continued on page 3
Adventure awaits on the Tweed Rail Trail ▶ p22
Julie-Ann Manahan MANA Founder | Selling Principal
36 years of excellence in real estate sales and marketing. Built on proven local, national and international results. MANA Real Estate
jam@manare.au
| 0411 081 118
Art for art’s sake ▶ p24
The Mullumbimby Residents Association (MRA) has called a public meeting for Monday, 13 July at 6pm at the Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club to discuss the modified development application (DA 10.2025.212.1) for the carpark at 57 Station Street, Mullumbimby. The MRA have highlighted a range of ongoing concerns that remain with the DA (not least that Council are still pressing ahead with it) and the fact that the DA still fails to meet a range of criteria around the sewer mains, essential access to adjacent businesses, flood heights, building heights, noise and traffic management, and whether Byron Shire Council (BSC) had the legal right to sell the land for $1 in the first place. ‘The Echo revealed this public land was sold for a dollar. What we’re now asking is a more fundamental question: was Council legally entitled to sell it at all?’ said MRA convenor Dale Emerson. ‘Public land that hasn’t been properly classified as operational land cannot be sold under the Local Government Act – full stop. Council’s own reports authorising this transaction had no “legal Implications” section. We’ve looked for the classification instrument that would make this sale lawful. We can’t find it. The Northern Rivers Planning Panel (NRPP) requires it to be produced before this DA goes ▶ Continued on page 2
Mandy’s Soapbox: When No Means MoNo ▶ p26