Don Page’s announcement that the NSW government is going to contribute $10.5 million towards the bypass puts a new perspective on developer donations.
Early this year (Echo 28 January) Don Page was saying he would not support West Byron ‘unless the Byron bypass has been constructed’. At that time the developers said they would make voluntary contributions of $7,000 per lot under a voluntary planning agreement ‘specifically earmarked for the bypass’.
So how is it that they are now paying nothing and NSW taxpayers are covering their $7.7 million ‘voluntary contribution’? Is this our donation to the West Byron developers?
It is important to recognise that, if they proceed, the combination of West Byron and the Ewingsdale ‘seniors’ development and shopping centre will roughly double the current weekday volume of traffic on Ewingsdale Road.
Byron Council’s 2009 traffic study found that, on a weekday, only 7-14% of the traffic using Ewingsdale Road was through traffic that would use a bypass, with even less during peak periods when traffic is worse.
So no matter how much we donate to the developers, the bypass won’t solve anything if we keep on developing along Ewingsdale Road.
Dailan Pugh, Byron Bay
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
