Opinion
dĶŔĶƐĕĎ ƆşōƖƐĶşŕƆ şǔ ĕſĕĎ Īşſ ſşŊĕŕ LĕëĎǽ ƆëƷƆ ĪşſŔĕſ ƆƐëƐĕ l Ian Cohen
I
viewed, with a sense of wonder, Council’s offer to provide public input on major changes to Seven Mile Beach Road as the gateway to various beaches in the Broken Head Nature Reserve. The latest Byron Shire Council (BSC) habit of concocting superficial attempts at public interface through submissions, while not covering all the issues involved, is a worrying trend. When I have been outspoken, I have been maligned as just another ‘self-interested landowner’. I would accept ‘persistent complainant’. Some local history may be in order. Since the early ’80s, Broken Head Nature Reserve has been called the Crown Jewel of the North Coast. We stopped government sale of the caravan park site, now in Arakwal hands. We obstructed the private Cape Byron International Academy at Seven Mile Beach. They had two dolphins diving out of a book as a logo, and a dodgy educational zoning to get around restrictions on residential mass development. They
claimed they wanted to provide student accommodation with world class ocean views to facilitate study, and use the nearby beach and Broken Head Nature Reserve for ‘field work’. Those of us in the Broken Head Protection Committee publicly threatened to paddle out and disrupt an international professional surfing contest at Lennox Head sponsored by the Academy proponents. The contest was cancelled. Demonstrations at Lismore campus and at Seven Mile by robe-and-mortarboard clad students, together with Fast Buck$ and the Wallum Froglet, saw them off. We exposed a South Pacific educational books scam in the process. Focusing on the Broken Head north end, I crashed an exclusive Gold Coast auction of the Taylors Estate and declared that bidders would be purchasing an environmental, political and land rights issue, not just property. Not one bid was entered. Currently fuelled by Facebook, commercial interests, COVID-19 and locals with an inflated sense
Traffic and parking along Seven Mile Beach Road has been a significant problem for many years as the popularity of the region has increased. Photo supplied of self-entitlement, this area, reflecting the pressures on all coastal reserves, is being trashed.
Simplistic approach to complex situation BSC rangers do a great job within the confines of staff numbers and hours they can work. National Parks rangers
are rarely to be seen. Police are flat out with priority matters. Residents have had many meetings with staff and elected councillors, with little success. In a seeming breakthrough, BSC has farmed out to consultants a request for public input in the form of a questionnaire; mind-numbingly simplistic
and seemingly giving equal weight to casual users as to those people who have been working to protect the area for decades, including leading scientists. They want comment on road parking, but do not even acknowledge that current parking at Seven Mile Beach is on private land. The document mixes up Broken Head Reserve Road and Broken Head Reserve regarding parking options, although these sites are six kilometres apart. The questionnaire gives three options: 1. Leave it as it is. (While it continues to achieve iconic status in media and alcohol advertising.) 2. Tarring to Kings Beach car park and later tarring the entire road. 3. Tar parking areas only to formalise parking.
A comprehensive plan needed What happened to an overall functioning traffic calming plan? How will dangerous driving be controlled? Will strict speed safety limits be enforced? How will revenue be effectively raised to
enhance ecological protection? How can people, and particularly children, walk and cycle safely on this soonto-be sealed and increasingly busy road? The first stage was due to be completed prior to Christmas. There is an unbalanced relationship between staff, councillors, and the public. Limited solutions are offered. Alternative strategies are barely tolerated, and councillors, leaving it to seemingly disinterested staff, defend them as the only source of information acceptable. Wholesale tarring, without a supportive plan and clever infrastructure options, will constitute an unmitigated assault on this precious environment. This could set a precedent for all coastal reserves. Once such free access sealing design is set in place it may subvert any more sustainable designs in the future. The Management Survey is available on the Your Say Byron Shire website until 15 February. Despite its shortcomings, please participate. Q Ian Cohen is a former NSW Greens MLC.
A Bundanon Trust touring exhibition
8 January – 28 February 2021
Arthur Boyd Shoalhaven as the River Styx (detail) c1996 oil on canvas Boyd Family Collection
The Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre is a Tweed Shire Council Community Facility
www.echo.net.au/byron-echo Byron Shire Echo archives
Gallery open Wednesday – Sunday 2 Mistral Road, South Murwillumbah NSW 02. 6670 2790 | artgallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au tweedregionalgallery
Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW
`ëŕƖëſƷ ǩǮǽ ǩǧǩǨ The Byron Shire Echo 13