THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 32 #12 Wednesday, August 30, 2017
food festival
www.echo.net.au Phone 02 6684 1777 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
pages 20-22
ACTING UPON ANONYMOUS TIP-OFFS SINCE 1986
Bruns ethics teachers up for awards – p7
What native plants are edible? – p26,27
continued on page X Mandy tackles Everything you need fathers day to know about what – p39 gig is on – p44
Online in
netdaily
Tweed water restrictions lifted
www.echo.net.au/tweed-waterrestrictions-lifted
A day to recycle Can Byron Bay’s old
hospital be saved? Public meeting held to discuss future use Paul Bibby
Emily Horton and Bridjett O’Keeffe were making things new again by sewing re-useable Boomerang shopping bags at the War on Waste mini-festival on Saturday. Held at the Mullum Council Chambers, the day was packed with workshops, kids’ activities and a screening of the ABC TV series of the same name. Photo Jeff ‘Recycled Way Past Used By Date’ Dawson
Falls festival ticket sales ‘unsupported’ A decision to release tickets for the upcoming Falls Festival before state government approval has been described as ‘not supported’ by the governing authority that is yet to approve the event’s trial extension. Additionally councillors voted last week to highlight some of the ongoing issues with the event, held at North Byron Parklands in Yelgun. Parklands is also the home to Splendour In The Grass festival. The NSW Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) released a statement last week after the ticket sale announcement, saying that it was ‘solely a risk for North Byron Parklands.’ Chair Lynelle Briggs AO said, ‘No commitments, assurance or other in-
dications about approval of the trial extension endorse the campaign.’ Briggs added, ‘… the Commission does not endorse the campaign, and for the avoidance of doubt, the campaign and any ticket sales will not be a factor in the commission’s final decision about the trial extension application.’
Urgency motion Meanwhile issues raised by councillors in an urgency motion include advising ‘the PAC of the many breaches by event organisers of conditions of consent and the lack of responsiveness to community concerns in rectifying those breaches.’ The Council majority also sup-
ported the views of the local police that the site ‘could not be evacuated within eight hours in the event of an emergency such as a fire, flood or terror attack.’ It was also noted that there has been ‘a lack of resolution on attenuation and other issues impacting on “affected receivers” as required by the initial approval.’ And despite supporting the extension to enable Falls Festival to occur, Council will ‘Convey to the PAC that Council believes it is unfortunate that the organiser for the Falls Festival 2017/2018 is releasing tickets for sale on the day that the PAC is holding a community public meeting as part of the assessment process.’ continued on page 2
A group of locals is fighting to save the old Byron District Hospital site from developers and instead have it placed in community hands. At a public meeting on August 23 about 50 locals from a range of businesses and community groups indicated their desire to preserve the site for ‘community benefit’ and brainstormed a number of possible ideas for its future use. These included turning the facility into a dropin-style centre for homeless people, a women’s refuge, a museum or affordable housing. Present at the meeting was Nationals MLC Ben Franklin, who said that NSW health minister Brad Hazzard had promised that the site would not be sold until the community had been given a chance to pitch its proposal. ‘I don’t know that I can make it happen [saving the site from development] but we have got the first option,’ Mr Franklin told the meeting. The state government has previously indicated that the 5,000 square metre site would be sold to offset the cost of building the Byron Central Hospital. And given its proximity to the heart of Byron Bay, the property would be an attractive prospect for developers and would fetch millions on the open market. Byron Writers Festival founder Chris Hanley chaired the meeting and said, ‘We all know what’s go-
ing to happen to it unless we do something.’ Any hopes that, like Mullumbimby Hospital, the site might be sold to the community for a token sum, were quickly dispelled by Mr Franklin.
Estimated at $10m He estimated the site to be worth around $10m on the open market. ‘Will we be able to get it for a dollar? Absolutely not,’ Mr Franklin said. ‘But I’ll do everything I can to drive the price down and in order to argue that it’s kept for the community.’ Finding the necessary funds to not only purchase but maintain the site was a central theme at the meeting. Local architect Harley Graham suggested that a commercial component such as a cafe, a co-working space or a residential development could be used to fund a community facility such as a centre for the homeless. ‘It could be somewhere for the homeless community to use during the day to have a shower or to access services,’ Mr Graham said. ‘Or we could rent out the space to health professionals at a subsidised rate so that they could provide some pro bono services.’ He also raised the possibility of selling the site to a developer on the proviso that up to a third of it would be used for affordable housing. Resident Rory O’Halloran said the site might be suited for use as a women’s refuge. continued on page 3
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