FATHERS DAY
THE BYRON SHIRE
feature
Volume 33 #12 Wednesday, August 29, 2018
www.echo.net.au Phone 02 6684 1777 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
PAGES 25-27
CRITICAL THANKER
‘No market’ for Ewingsdale medical centre says local doctor Hans Lovejoy
Further to a recent decision by the Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP) for a $8m private medical centre on the congested Ewingsdale Road, a medical professional has told The Echo the facility is not needed and was not requested by anyone within the local medical fraternity. The comments by the local doctor, who wishes to remain anonymous, highlight how the decision may well have been made without community support or need. With almost a 100 per cent approval rate, the JRPP is an unelected panel that decides on large-scale developments instead of elected councils, and will shortly consider the contentious West Byron greenfield development. According to comments in their determination (available online), the JRPP stated that the facility was needed, yet that claim was unsupported with any evidence. The doctor said, ‘The medical centre proposal is being seen by many in the local medical community as a cynical exercise to increase the value of a piece of land adjoining a public hospital site – no more.’ ‘The proposed services are not essential, and they make no sense in that there is no market for them. The services have not been requested by any local medical entity. ‘The proposed services seek to replicate the already available and underused medical and pharmacy continued on page 2
Imagination takes flight in Ocean Shores Every which way but up – Jupiter rarely found his feet playing Bumper Soccer in a huge inflated ball at Saturday’s Festival of the Imagination at Ocean Shores Public School. Photo Jeff Dawson
Saddle Road suburb knocked back Plans to create a new suburb of upwards of 450 dwellings – including an affordable-housing component – on the ridge between Brunswick Heads and Mullumbimby were rejected by Council before its assessment was completed. Yet a successful amendment by mayor Simon Richardson at Thursday’s meeting invites ‘individual site proposals from within area 17 (Saddle
Road) that include a provision of at least 80 per cent affordable housing’. Following last year’s initial invitation by councillors for Shire landowners to propose their land as affordable-housing projects, Saddle Road landowner Kelvin Daly proposed the Brunswick Eco Village (BEV), located on the northern end of the precinct. Then later, a planning proposal for most of the ridgeline was
Who is the latest Mungo is back to Sample some unelected PM? examine the mess tasty delights at – p6, 7 – p12 Bangalow – p20–21
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Daly later told The Echo, ‘This has come as a terrible blow to BEV and
its collaborative neighbours, as they were responding to a request from Council to submit the Planning Proposal after the creation of Area 17 and following that process, in good faith.’ ‘The request of the state government for Council to focus on completing the Residential Strategy will now mean that these offers are suspended and their potential to deliver affordable housing unclear.’
Discover what Ballina has to offer – p22–23
Entertainment? Seven has it all covered – p40–45
submitted (Area 17), and included a promise to allocate 20 per cent of the land to affordable-housing projects. Yet the proposal falls outside strategic planning and is resisted by other landowners who want to maintain their rural amenity.
Terrible blow
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