I laughed. What else was there to do?
Our soon-to-be-ex mayor has brought down the house, declaring that – gasp! – holiday letting isn’t the problem after all. It’s really ‘Air BnB’!
So, everyone is wrong and complaining about nothing? We know what bullshit smells like, Simon, and we know what it sounds like, too. A lot of people were rubbed the wrong way by Jan Barham, but at least you knew who she was. We are finding out who Simon is right now.
Meanwhie, Smiling Simon helpfully suggests councils should be able to create precincts where holiday letting could occur. Pure genius. We’d need a name for these areas. Something like ‘Commercial Zonings’! As opposed to ‘Residential Zonings’! Wow! These new-fangled ‘zonings’ – if that’s not too crazy a word – could ‘inform all where it is permissible and acceptable and where it isn’t’, to quote Simon. OMG! It would be, like, a LAW or something! And then, all you’d have to do is enforce it. It’s so brilliant, why don’t we have a system like that now?
Oh, wait…
Pure comedy gold, Simon. Then that devastating quip that ‘some local areas could make their whole town a holiday precinct’.
Thanks, Simon. Thanks for finally saying it. Thanks for actually revealing what you are trying to do to us.
Matt Hartley, Byron Bay
Mayor Richardson should consult with fellow Green and Upper House member Jan Barham. Jan tried precincts 8 years ago and her and the council’s efforts came to nil. She now admits that this approach was wrong and she is currently advocating that the only path is to prosecute the illegal holiday lets that don’t comply with the planning laws. She admits that there already has been five legal precedents that definitely say that holiday letting in 2(a) residential zones is illegal.
There are concerns that all of Byron will become a holiday precinct with limited controls. I’m sure many residents are looking forward to 24 hour/7 days a week party house holiday lets next to them, as has been allowed in Gosford