THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 32 #20 Wednesday, October 25, 2017
www.echo.net.au Phone 02 6684 1777 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
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P O R TA B L E , TA C T I L E A N D I N T E R G A L A C T I C
Paid parking There’s a lot of cocaine Echo history as Mandy Nolan grumbles? We have around these parts, told by original old and her hair you covered – p4, 5 allegedly – p9 drudge – p17 pollution – p41
Market stallholders call for location certainty
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Online in
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What should we do with dead whales on beaches? www.echo.net.au/dead-whalesbeaches
Of music and valleys
Butler Street bus interchange to be built in 2018 Byron market stallholders are up in arms over what they say is a lack of engagement or articulated plans for Butler Street Reserve after Council announced – on behalf of the state government – that a bus interchange will be built on the location. A press release on Monday from Council’s general manager (GM) Ken Gainger says it will be significant for the community, ‘because it will take large passenger buses out of Jonson Street, a key target in the Byron Bay Masterplan, which is aimed at progressively making the town centre more pedestrian and cycle friendly.’ While no plans or costings were provided, Gainger says the project will be undertaken by Transport for NSW, who are ‘developing plans which will be shared with the community when they are completed.’ Gainger says the Masterplan identified improved pedestrian access and movement as priorities, ‘and this involves getting traffic out of the central business area and reclaiming it for locals and visitors.’ He says, ‘Council sees the markets as valuable contributors to the economic and social fabric of the Byron Shire and is committed to finding alternative venues for them while the bus interchange is being built.’ Meetings with market operators and stallholders have been held, he says, ‘and we are working together to activate the rail corridor and surrounding areas as potential interim market venues.’ But stallholder representative Gyan Moyes is yet to be convinced;
he said, ‘the only proposal from Council is spreading the market over the area of the disused railway tracks, adjacent car park, Railway Park, the carpark behind The Railway Hotel and more unspecified areas on the main streets of Byron.’ He said, ‘The proposal lacks any permanence, as most of the area will remain a transport corridor and as such it can be reclaimed at any time in future.’ Other problems with the plan, he said, include uneven ground, exposure to sun and heat along the tracks and inadequate stallholder access that would contribute to traffic gridlock.’ Moyes continued, ‘We believe that Butler Street should be retained as the market grounds for the community and the farmers markets and as a valuable recreational space for the growing town. ‘We value the Butler Street Reserve as a place that has provided many with sustainable incomes for decades, contributing to the economic, social and cultural life of Byron Bay’.
Masterplan amended Remarkably, the Byron Bay Town Centre Masterplan has been amended to include plans for a Butler Street bus interchange (page 90). This was confirmed with Council staff. Gainger added that moving the bus interchange that is currently on Jonson Street will reduce the number of large vehicles in town. ‘Council has exciting plans to activate the Railway Park precinct, Byron Street and the nearby rail corridor.’
Last Friday, Upper Main Arm School again held its annual festival Music In The Valley. This year’s string section featured Lola, Lenny and Otto, who contributed beautifully to the glorious afternoon. Photo Jeff Dawson
Govcorp set to ignore measures to protect 400-year-old trees in Bruns Recommendations by an ecologist to save deteriorating trees in a Brunswick Heads holiday park – some thought to be 400 years old – are unlikely to be adopted by managers NSW Crown Holiday Parks Trust (NSWCHPT). The Council-commissioned report by Dr Robert Kooyman will be tabled at this Thursday’s Council meeting and supports what residents have said over many years about the Coastal Cypress pine trees in the southern end of the Terrace Reserve Holiday Park: specifically, that camping in the area degrades the vulnerable species and they should be left alone to recover.
Dr Kooyman says to ensure the long-term survival of the trees and protection of their heritage values, all camping should cease and infrastructure be removed. But a Greens-led decision at Council’s September meeting supported the NSWCHPT’s intention to allow existing camping and developing the area for further camping. Council staff have recommended in the upcoming agenda that Council discuss the report with NSWCHPT ‘with a view to achieving their agreement to implement [the recommedation].’ Yet that appears unlikely; when asked by The Echo, NSWCHPT
CEO Steve Edmonds only referred to their vegetation-management plan ‘that prescribes the required actions which the Trust have implemented and continue[s] to do so.’
Trust decimated trees Longtime resident and vice-president of the town’s Progress Association, Sean O’Meara, said the protected trees were decimated eleven years ago, when NSWCHPT took control of the parkland from Council. O’Meara says the trees in the southern section of the reserve had all their branches below around 4m cut continued on page 2
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