Letters Road environment
I refer to the front-page article in The Echo (August 16) regarding bitumen seal to steep gravel roads. Council services director Mr Phil Holloway is quoted as saying: ‘it would be necessary to buy all the gravel for the sub-base and base of the road’. Experience with a simple cheap single coat of bitumen has shown there is no need to have this sub-base and base. The roads concerned carry nearly all light car traffic and there is already a gravel base compacted by the traffic using the road. Perhaps with this in mind Council could re-consider the necessary bitumen seal? Expenditure is desperately needed to bitumen seal at least the steeper parts of the gravel roads in the Shire and stop the major environmental damage occuring. Council works department is well aware of the need for this but can do nothing without the required funds. Next year rates increases have been allowed to give Council more money for infrastructure. I calculate that a 50 to 66 per cent saving on annual gravel road maintenance can be achieved into the future if only the most basic single-coat bitumen seal were applied. Surely Council should be applying new increased funds to achieve the most advantageous longterm savings. This is smart economics. Instead, I understand multi-millions in funds ($4 million?) are going to be spent on roundabout construction that will only serve to shift traffic problems to another location. I calculate that if just $500,000 were allocated to bitumen both the environment and budgets would significantly improve. Isn’t this sort of intelligent solution the reason we elected a green council? If these green councillors can’t fix this then who can? Ron Priestley Main Arm
Wee and Poo
Wee and poo is not a sexy topic but how it is collected, treated and where it is discharged is a public health issue. As shown on ratepayers notices, properties are charged a fixed rate for water and sewer. It also shows the fixed charge for a sewer connection is 4.75 times higher than that for water. A
separate notice bills the property quarterly for the use of these connections. It is this revenue plus government grants that are there to ensure public health is protected. In Mullumbimby, black (toilet) and grey water (sink, shower etc) are largely collected in earthenware mains and delivered via pumps to Brunswick Valley Sewage Treatment Plant (BVSTP). The STP was commissioned in 2011 at a cost of more than $28.6m with a design capacity to treat 3.8ML/day of influent. In order for the STP to function correctly there should be no infiltration otherwise there will be an adverse effect on the treatment process. Inaugural community members of the Brunswick Valley Wastewater Steering Committee were well aware that the collection system in parts of Mullumbimby was not closed. It had major infiltration problems in wet weather events with stormwater mixing with raw sewage and in dry weather raw sewage leaking out into the water table. Our continuing arguments to address this issue were pushed aside by management on the grounds that the terms of reference for the new STP did not address the collection system. Evidence supplied by BSC’s utility manager shows the scale of infiltration in wet weather events will vary depending on the intensity of rainfall, its duration and frequency. The time taken to bring the STP back to Average Dry Weather Flow (ADWF) will be extended if there is any rainfall in the days following a wet weather event. The scale of infiltration is concerning. On 31/03/2017 (Cyclone Debbie) influent was 18,0127kL/day or 4.740 times the STP’s design capacity of 3.8ML/day. The plant ran for another eight days above its licence. Sixty days after 31/3/2017 shows that the plant had not returned to its ADWF. This pattern is consistent with previous evidence that the collection system is not functioning. It means that ratepayers are paying sewer charges for a state-of-the-art BVSTP to treat stormwater, which it is not designed to do. The consequences come back to public health. I am aware that: (i) some residents in Mullumbimby cannot flush their
toilets during wet weather events; (ii) stormwater entering the STP affects the time the plant has to complete the treatment process and hence the quality of effluent leaving; and (iii) following the collapse of the reuse strategy this effluent is then discharged into the Brunswick River. What I am not aware of is the extent of contamination of groundwater that comes with raw sewage leaking out of the collection system be it in dry or wet weather. However, I am aware that Council’s management is currently pushing aside the issue of the state of the collection system in its latest vision of spending $45.6m to transfer raw sewage from Ocean Shores STP to BVSTP. Property owners paying for sewer connections and use deserve better. The collection system in parts of Mullumbimby needs to be replaced before putting public moneys into a scheme that is essentially designed to store raw sewage and stormwater in a 20ML weather pond before it overflows directly into the Brunswick River. Ratepayers should not be paying for a scheme disguised as augmenting the BVSTP, (code for building another STP) before looking at the effects on the plant, including its longevity, with a properly functioning collection system. Patricia Warren Brunswick Heads
A few points
Some observations on two unrelated topics. First: that marriage has traditionally been an association between a man and a woman for thousands of years is a statement of fact – but doesn’t actually constitute an argument against changing the situation in the modern era. Second: Byron business community alarmist bullshit – if a visitor doesn’t have enough money to factor a bed tax into their holiday expenses then it is likely they wouldn’t be welcomed by the business community because they wouldn’t have enough to spend on anything else. David Gilet Byron Bay
Under attack
Our homes and neighbourhoods are under attack. The online, multinational, taxevading, short-term holiday
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letting disruptors would like to fill them all with tourists. Communities around the world are being damaged by these disruptors. The two main disruptors in NSW are Airbnb and Stayz. They are busy lobbying government to develop legislation that suits their business interests. One of these lobbyists is a former NSW coalition government minister. Airbnb has lobbied to retain the current status quo. That is, allow holiday letting anywhere a residence could be built with none or very limited regulation. Victims of Holiday Letting (VOHL) call this the ‘no touch’ approach. Stayz and the two holiday letting organisations are lobbying for registration and self-regulation through the Holiday Rental Code of Conduct. This is the ‘soft touch’ approach. The highly discredited Code has been in use for five years. There has been no independent evaluation. It has not protected residential amenity.
THE
millions of dollars in fines waiting to be collected by means of penalty notices. No more complicated than parking tickets. By now, Council should have written to all real estate agents and online accommodation sites, requiring information within seven days. Issuance of penalty notices – one for each date, because each date is a separate offence – should have begun. If this has not happened, why? Corruption is the single most damaging issue in the world, from Brazil and Borneo to Byron Bay. Illegal letting is no different from illegal logging and illegal contract manipulation. It could have been stopped when it began, at the first house. Obfuscation and inaction fostered its Q Congratulations to Michael growth. Who knew and did Lyon for continuing to speak what and when will be deterout against illegal letting in mined. Justice will be done. residential areas. However, Let me repeat this; the his financial concerns will be mayor’s statements that there allayed if he continues to pur- was ‘actually nothing’ to prosue illegal activity via the cor- hibit tourist letting in resirect method: penalty notices. dential areas was and is false. There are hundreds of continued on next page Self-regulation has been unsuccessful in many industries, including in holiday letting. The NSW Government in its Options Paper is seeking feedback on the type and degree of impacts created by short-term holiday letting. VOHL urges all residents to read the Options Paper and make a submission by October 31. The option of retaining current world-class NSW Planning Legislation and applying the law against illegal holiday letting has not been offered. This can be provided by residents as an option in their submission. Further information can be found on: http://bit. ly/2v4ARst. Doug Luke Co-ordinator, VOHL
RAILS
THE RAILWAY FRIENDLY BAR, BYRON BAY 6685 7662 • therailsbyronbay.com
AND THE FAMOUS
RAILS kitchen
Thursday 24 August
THE PROPELLERS Friday 25 August
RAGGA JUMP Saturday 26 August
WANDERERS Sunday 27 August
OOZ Monday 28 August
BENJAMIN WALSHE Tuesday 29 August
JAMIE ASHFORTH Wednesday 30 August
JASON DELPHIN DUO The Byron Shire Echo August 23, 2017 13