Letters
Fill the wetlands It must be evident to everyone that neither the state nor federal government is going to pay millions of dollars to remove the Brunswick River rock walls as Jillian Spring suggests (Letter, July 12). I am sure that all Echo readers sympathise with Jillian and everyone else who has been traumatised by the recent massive flooding and most of us know people directly affected. The state government has no interest in Byron Shire beyond giving it over to megadevelopers and must spend billions of dollars vainly trying to save gridlocked Sydney. The federal government must obey their trans-corporate overlords and give billionaire Adani an extra billion dollars and another 50 billion dollars must be paid to the military industrial complex for twelve useless submarines. There will not be any money available for rock wall removal or rail trails or railways. The infilling of deep wetlands on the floodplain at Billinudgel for the industrial estate two decades ago may have contributed to the recent flooding and the industrial estate itself was two metres underwater, causing massive trauma and expense for the residents. The vast amounts of fill destined for the Byron floodplain for the West Byron subdivision may cause similar flooding to all the adjacent low-lying suburbs and industrial estate. With the North Pole experiencing temperatures of 50 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in the midwinter darkness this year runaway climate change has arrived. Oceanographers warn that it won’t be the height of sea-level rise that will shock people but its rapidity once it starts. The
future for Byron Shire will be a tropical mangrove forest filled with saltwater crocodiles enjoying the flooding. Gary Opit Brunswick Heads
Moratorium? Clause 45 of the old Byron Local Environment Plan (LEP) requires that ‘prior adequate arrangements’ exist for sewage management before a development application (DA) such as the Villa World one for West Byron can be approved. That’s because the proposal relies on Byron Bay’s sewer system. Court cases confirmed that rule and it became the basis for ‘moratoriums’ in the Shire 10 to 20 years ago. The state rezoned West Byron under that old LEP. Questions like the following should be answered (by planning and legal experts) before the state’s Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP) considers the current DA: 1. Does the old LEP apply here for West Byron? Answer should be yes, as the rezoning was under that LEP (the new LEP2014 is less stringent about sewerage arrangements). 2. Does the inadequate flow-path (downstream of the Byron Bay Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) licence points) constitute an issue in the question of prior adequate arrangement? 3. Does Council need the consent of the Belongil Swamp Drainage Union to increase its discharge rates into the Union Drain? Byron’s sewage is treated at Byron Bay STP and then released to the environment via a network of drains through private property, including the Union Drain, which then flows into Belongil Creek.
The property owners agreed in the mid-2000s to accept STP effluent at one megalitre/ day (ML/d) in dry weather. That flow is now about 4 ML/d and rising. Council is a sewerage authority, separate from its role as a planning authority and other roles. Is that authority certain that prior adequate arrangements have been made for sewage that the West Byron proposal will produce? Council’s Coast Estuary Catchment Panel advised Council on 16 March 2017 that the arrangements had failed, and suggested a moratorium be considered. Maybe the Authority could issue the JRPP a letter stating that it is unable to certify that prior adequate arrangements exist for sewage from West Byron. Ducan Dey Main Arm In March 2017, Council’s Coast Estuary Catchment Panel recommended to Council ‘that Council acknowledge its commitment at the commissioning of Byron Bay Sewage Treatment Plant to relying on reuse to match increases in sewer load and either find a strategy to achieve that level of reuse or consider calling a moratorium’. This advice never reached Council. In July, it did in the public access session of the extraordinary meeting about the Villa World DA. Unfortunately, councillors took advice from staff and weakened Cr Ndiye’s motion so that only the ‘concerns of landholders’ would be ‘referenced’ in Council’s submission to the Joint Regional Planning Panel. What does all this mean? Over the past ten years, the effluent discharge from the
Q
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STP has risen from one megalitre/day in dry weather to 3-5 megalitres/day. This contravenes a 2006 agreement with private landowners, also members of the Union Drain Trust, whose drains are used to distribute the effluent. In 2006, increases in effluent reuse in town, rural industry and wetlands were all planned but by 2017 not accomplished. As a community representative on this group, I also alert you to the latest report, costing approx $350k. It identifies impacts the discharge has on the private lands. It suggests that ever-growing quantities of effluent be rerouted through the drains of the Arts & Industry Estate into the West Byron drain and the Belongil. Dr M Garder Byron Bay
An evening about the Life & Teaching of
Adi Da Samraj Tues 1st August, 7.30–9pm Cultural Centre (laneway behind the Lennox Community Centre) 1 Mackney Lane, Lennox Head
TM
“For those who would embrace a life based on heart-breaking Freedom – I am here.” – Adi Da Samraj
www.adidam.org
TAX RETURNS
• GET GOOD RESULTS FROM THE EXPERTS • ALL TYPES OF TAXATION • INDIVIDUAL RETURNS
6685 8129
BYRON TAX ACCOUNTANTS Paul Enright Chartered Accountant Office Upstairs 109 Jonson St, Byron Bay
Q Council has on exhibition its proposed policy headed ‘Byron Bay Urban Recycled Water Connection Policy’. Closing date August 9. The policy, as exhibited, needs to be opposed on the followinggrounds: It is far too narrow in its focus because it is limiting recycled water to commercial premises in Byron only. By default it has the potential to cover up omissions by Council to implement strategies for treated effluent tied to both the Brunswick Valley and West Byron Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP). Those strategies failed. The EPA was unaware of this for years and residents were led to believe in Council’s media advertisements during the latest Water Week that strategies were in place when in continued on next page
THE
Contact Julie: 0417 683 696.
Calling for organic
farming proposals Byron Rainbow Farm is calling for expressions of interest from organic farmers wanting to undertake organic horticulture or poultry or dairy goats or honey bees on areas of farmland in Byron Shire. More than 16 hectares of red soil and black soil pasture is available in parcels as small as 2,000 square metres up to two hectares. Two-year + 2-year licence agreements are available including access to irrigation water, roads and facilities. Additional infrastructure requirements can be negotiated such as greenhouses, horticultural netting, farm buildings,hydroponics, piping, pumps, power etc.
fencing,
For more information and an application form please email: byronrainbowfarm@gmail.com. Expressions of Interest by end August
RAILS
THE RAILWAY FRIENDLY BAR, BYRON BAY 6685 7662 • therailsbyronbay.com
AND THE FAMOUS
RAILS kitchen
Thursday 27 July
FERGO
Friday 28 July
VANESSA BAKER & THE ELECTRIC ECLECTIC Saturday 29 July
BB FACTORY Sunday 30 July
ANDY JANZ BROWN Monday 31 July
JAX HAZE
Tuesday 1 August
JON J BRADLEY Wednesday 2 August
LILY AND THE DRUM The Byron Shire Echo July 26, 2017 13