Fast Buck$ addresses councillors on the Roundhouse issue.

It was old home week, or as one council staffer put it, ‘Groundhog Day’, at the Byron Shire Council chambers last week, when many of the major players from the last twenty years paid a visit to have their say and not surprisingly, most of the talk was of development and planning.

With a win and a loss to the Roundhouse and the Main Arm Residents Association  respectively, others had the chance to speak their mind and colourfully so. Fast Buck$ was vehement in his trashing of the Roundhouse Action Group’s proposal for a cultural site and John Vaughan was equally as passionate about what he sees as the holes in the Coastal Zone Management Plan.

Dailan Pugh spoke on two subjects, firstly for himself about the Byron Environmental Zones and secondly on behalf of BEACON in regards to the development of West Byron, which he said did not need to be developed until well after 2031 to satisfy the Regional Strategy’s dwelling targets.

‘The existing settlement strategies provide for some 3,500 dwellings,’ he said. ‘Without any development of West Byron, and Council is proposing significantly increased dwelling densities in the new LEP beyond what they were based on. In fact this increased development is contrary to the Regional Strategy’s intent to encourage growth away from the coast.’

There were speeches by developers for the proposed development at Bangalow and residents were served disappointment when Council voted for the approval of six new residential sites, which would hold an estimated 150 lots.
During the course of the morning, former councillor Jenny Coman raised her concerns about the takeover of the Byron library by Lismore library and Cr Staples had his funny hat on when he suggested that a developement lot in question at New Brighton was ‘almost as small as one of Fast Buck$’s caravans’ – some light relief to an intense morning.

An interesting point arose when Grace Allison mentioned a chance encounter with an employee of the Woolworths development in Mullumbimby. She said that while she was hitching she met a key member of the staff who suggested that the community delve into what may be an extended future plan for the Woolworths site, which might include for example a cinema.

She asked Council if there was any level at which the community could stop the work. Mayor Barham said that all the legal requirements were in place and Council’s hands were now tied. Councillor Richardson quoted Che Guevara, ‘When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.’ The Mayor suggested caution.