By Dailan Pugh
Byron Shire Council is now proposing to double the shire’s current population by releasing 3,800 hectares of rural land for residential development. This is the biggest land release in Byron’s history.
In gross area, this is equivalent to ten new West Byrons plus ten new Ewingsdales.
If you allow them to get away with this, they will include these lands in the current regional strategy and, like West Byron, there will be nothing you or anyone else will be able to do to stop them proceeding in the future.
Byron Shire Council’s draft Rural Land Use Strategy identifies 1,100ha of land as suitable for the creation of seven new towns: one south-east of Ewingsdale (Balraith Lane), one at Skinner’s Shoot (Yager’s Lane), one south-west of Brunswick Heads (Saddle Road), three north and west of Mullumbimby (Clays Road, Dudgeons Road, Coolamon Scenic Drive), and one west of Billinudgel.
Council estimates that these areas encompass a total of 746 ha of potentially developable land. At West Byron the 55ha zoned for residential development is claimed to accommodate 1,100 houses (though it could be over 1,500). Based on this ratio, the 746ha could potentially encompass some 15,000 houses.
There are currently around 15,000 houses in Byron shire, so alone these land releases could double Byron’s population. Pretty impressive for a 20-year strategy.
Given the profitability of the Byron Bay real-estate market and council’s laissez-faire approach to developers, it can be expected that the towns at Ewingsdale and Skinner’s Shoot will proceed quickly.
With West Byron’s 1,100-plus houses poised to overwhelm Byron Bay’s infrastructure, 4,600 additional houses is the last thing Byron Bay needs.
Council’s Rural Land Use Strategy identifies another six rural areas totalling 2,732ha for Large Lot Residential, Multiple Occupancy and Community Title developments. Some 88ha of this is specifically tagged for large lot residential.
They say only 885ha of this is potentially developable and will accommodate 415-815 dwellings (370-740 around Main Arm and The Pocket). Though, thanks to last minute amendments by Cr Sol Ibrahim, council is proposing to allow such developments throughout rural areas.
That is not all, council is also promoting re-subdivision of existing large-lot residential areas.
It is back to open slather on our rural areas. Nowhere is safe.
Based on inflated population growth estimates the 2006 Far North Coast Regional Strategy identified a target for Byron shire of 2,600 dwellings over 25 years to 2031. Over the eight years to 2014 our population did not grow as quickly as expected, yet council provided 1,231 residential approvals at well above target rates.
The current draft of the 2016 North Coast Regional Plan identifies a target of 3,750–4,500 new dwellings for Byron shire over the 25 years from 2011-2036. This new target represents an increase in our growth rate from 20 per cent to 27 per cent over 25 years. By comparison Ballina’s growth rate has been reduced from 50 per cent down to 18 per cent.
Even if we accept our new target, there is no need for any more land releases to achieve it.
Since 2011, council has approved over 700 new dwellings. There are currently new urban subdivisions approved for over 1,800 dwellings which are yet to be developed (West Byron, Seacliffs, Habitat, Bayside Brunswick, Tallowwood Ridge, and around Bangalow), and allowances for over 1,000 dwellings as infill in existing urban areas.
In 2014 council amended our Local Environment Plan to also allow secondary dwellings on all rural and urban lots, potentially allowing thousands of new dwellings throughout the Shire.
So why on earth is our council hell-bent on slashing environmental protections and proposing huge new land releases capable of doubling our population in the guise of a 20-year Rural Land Use Strategy? And why are they keeping quiet about it?
They seem to be hoping that if they release enough land the Gold Coast developers will come to cash in on Byron’s increasingly tarnished image.
Cr Ibrahim has no justification (except for ideological) to keep on slashing environmental protections, as it is clear that there is more than enough unconstrained land to satisfy our needs. We can have our koalas and develop too.
Councillors talk about idealised ‘eco’ villages and affordable housing, but do nothing to achieve them.
If we want to have a new town, or maybe some small villages, why don’t we take into account all constraints to identify potential lands, have a competition inviting landowners to put forward genuinely innovative proposals for unconstrained lands, choose the best proposal, and impose the planning rules needed to achieve it?
We have plenty of time to do something truly good.
You only have until the 20 May to tell councillors (of all persuasions) to put their outrageous Rural Land Use Strategy in the landfill bin where it belongs.
NOTE: Also includes Linnaeus at Broken Head as Community Title
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