WORLD
THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 31 #40
WATER DAY
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
www.echo.net.au Phone 02 6684 1777 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
PAGE 16-17
T H E G R E AT E S T T H R E AT I S N O T F O R E I G N T E R R O R I S T S BUT DOMESTIC IMBECILES – JOHN FUGELSANG
CAB AUDIT
Positive strategies How a bumbling boob for a besieged and MP made a fool of weak PM – p10 himself this week – p6
It’s time Women for You of Blues – p18–19 – p32
Not Hans Lovejoy again
Last Thursday was a day for a paddle and if you were fit enough – an epic surf. Sean O’Shea caught this picture at the Pass, which, owing to its point break facing south, can produce world-class waves with a southerly swell.
Bruns developers cop public flak Around 140 Brunswick Heads residents – many of whom were ropeable – faced off the managers of the town’s three caravan parks over unwelcome expansion plans last Thursday evening at the Ocean Shores Country Club. It lasted for well for over two hours. So did it achieve anything? Not much other than perhaps ticking the box that the state government-run corporation, the NSW Coast Holiday Parks Trust (NSWCHPT), had fulfilled its requirement for ‘community engagement’ over its plans to develop the Terrace, Massey-Greene and Ferry Reserve. With a lovely backdrop of the club’s commanding ocean views, a bureaucrat started the meeting by speaking so fast that his name was missed.
Mr Bureaucrat admitted early on that there was a ‘lot of negative feedback,’ and throughout the presentation he was asked by the audience to slow down, yet didn’t. The NSWCHPT representatives – including CEO Steve Edmonds – were on the back foot the entire evening and their expansion plans were booed loudly. ‘Land grab!’ was shouted out on occasion. Some of the biggest boos were over the plans for the Terrace park, where the Trust has subsumed a WWI memorial park (on Crown land) with cypress trees for camping/commercial purposes. Sean O’Meara, who told the crowd he is a fourth-generation local, was cheered when he said there is no way you could lay plumbing down around the trees for built structures
netdaily
Anti-forestry group ejected from audit of endangered trees www.echo.net.au/anti-forestry-groupejected-audit-endangered-trees
Police flag concerns over Yelgun fest site
Pumping Pass perfection
Hans Lovejoy
Online in
and still maintain the trees. Another told the crowd that the trees were not planted by the RSL, but by the residents’ association just after WWI. Offically it is a remembrance, not a memorial, the crowd were told. An interactive video demonstrating the Trust’s vision of the Terrace Park was also loudly booed as it contained nothing but drably designed high-density cabins. But the NSWCHPT managers argued, ‘they are sustainably designed!’
Boundary issues Over many, many years, the North Coast Holiday Parks Trust has been unable to produce boundary plans between the parks and public spaces to satisfy Council and the public. It was a topic that took up a lot of time on the night. continued on page 2
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Local police resources, based in Tweed and Byron Shires, were stretched to breaking point at last year’s Splendour in the Grass (SITG) festival, held in late July at the North Byron Parklands site in Yelgun. A scathing assessment by crime manager by the Tweed Byron local area command (LAC) Brendan Cullen flagged major issues and the potential for disaster that arose from the ‘largest event held on the site to date’. His is one of many agency submissions to the NSW planning department regarding North Byron Parklands’ application for permanent residency, expansion and approval for 50,000 patrons per day. Government department and council comments can be found at the planning department’s website: http://bit.ly/2mZeLGO. Inspector Cullen said he was unsupportive of the approval until issues such as policing numbers, emergency plans, a safety audit, improved/additional roads and traffic management were addressed. Inspector Cullen wrote, ‘The [2016] event was sold out with capacity of 32,500 paying patrons per day, of which we have been informed there were 20,100 campers.’ Additionally the event had a workforce of approximately 3,500 ‘and an undisclosed number of free ticket holders at any one time.’ Perhaps the most remarkable point that arose from the submission was Splendour management confirming with The Echo that they pay police to manage the event.
When asked how much police were paid at the last event, Splendour management declined to comment.
Fest pays for policing Splendour in the Grass co-producer Jessica Ducrou told The Echo, ‘Splendour in the Grass operates on a police user-pay system. This essential service helps us meet the needs of our patrons while still fulfilling our responsibilities to the broader community. We understand that as the event grows so does the requirement for police presence and userpay services. Splendour is 100 per cent committed to patron safety and will continue to make adjustments to this service based on the number of patrons in attendance.’ Remarkably, Ms Ducrou claims the ‘user-pay service helps ensure that normal policing services to the community can also be maintained.’ The Echo asked for clarification, given the comment is completely at odds with the police submission, which indicates they are understaffed. Ms Ducrou replied, ‘We have always worked closely with the NSW Police. The process to date is to provide NSW Police with the approved patron capacity numbers. The NSW Police Service then advise events of the required policing numbers and charge the events for these officers directly. The events have no role in determining final police numbers; this decision is always made by NSW Police.’ Other concerns raised by Inspector Cullen included the ‘consumption of illicit drugs’, with difficulties continued on page 3
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