Local Greens parliamentarians have called on the NSW Government to ensure that any development in West Byron is of an appropriate scale.
They want assurances that any development won’t adversely affect Ewingsdale Road, or negatively impact local wetlands or the Cape Byron Marine Park.
North Coast Greens MP Dawn Walker has given the parliament notice that she will move a motion along those lines on the next sitting day of the parliament
‘The West Byron mega-development has been forced onto Byron Bay by successive Labor and Liberal-National Governments who have over-ridden council planning powers and clearly don’t care about the how this inappropriate development damages the ecology and character of Byron Bay,’ Ms Walker said.
‘I joined over 200 locals who gathered as part of the recent ‘Byron Deserves Better Community Rally’ to express our frustration at the prospect of a massive, high-density suburb on the outskirts of Byron Bay. The NSW Government needs to listen to our community.
‘I stand with Byron Shire Council and the community who are especially worried about how this large development will impact traffic flow on Ewingsdale Road and have called on the Government to take action to minimise this.
Dawn Walker’s concerns were echoed by fellow Greens MP and Member for Ballina, Tamara Smith.
‘I was told by the Planning Minister that the new Coastal SEPP would be gazetted a few weeks ago, but that has not happened. It also appears that the developers’ own map of West Byron is what the Department of Planning is going with,’ Ms Smith said.
‘The idea that you would let the developer tell you what environmental constraints are on their land is insane, but we should not be surprised since the Minister has interfered in this process from the get-go.
‘The Greens at every level have opposed the West Byron mega-development from the outset and will continue to do what we can at a local and state level to minimise its impacts on Byron Bay,’ Ms Walker said.
‘It’s time the NSW Parliamentary Secretary for the North Coast, Ben Franklin stopped running around cutting ribbons and joined the Greens in trying to do something practical to minimise the impacts of the West Byron development on our community.’
Thank you! This insanity must be stopped!
Since there are traffic jams all along Ewingsdale Road and any traffic increase means ambulances to and from the new Hospital are blocked when someone needs an ambulance it means that no development is ‘appropriate”. This is a life and death situation.
Traffic jams are the same as having no Hospital ambulance service.
The Federal and or state Government will make any major decisions over Byron Shire land rezone. Meanwhile Byron council can make a judgment on which pot holes to fix if they can.
It will also be interesting when the back log jam of traffic in peak morning hours stretches back towards Tyagarah on the 2 lane south bound Pacific Highway which already suffers substantial slow traffic queuing to exit at the Byron turnoff.
West Byron shows perfectly how undemocratic Australian democracy is and how the wrong sort of people actually run the country, and yet it is still going to happen as there is no democratic way of stopping this development.
The common sense and wishes of many Byron residents just don’t count, the unsuitability of greatly enlarging a town with no space for new roads is ignored, as is the fact that Byron Bay is hemmed in on one side by a swamp to the west and escarpment to the south, and by the ocean to the north and east.
The traffic issues cannot be solved and a traffic nightmare will be the outcome yet I witnessed people at Suffolk Park last weekend declining to sign the anti West Byron petition.
It’s not an inevitability, Andy. If the community’s voice is loud and united enough, it will influence the JRPP.
Cristipton, with respect have you read the reports and submissions addressing West Byron? You will note that concerning environmental standards there are areas where the Federal Government should step in and make a re-evaluation. Also the Governments are driven by the interests of Business and Developers, hence we get the changes in environmental zoning, enabling inappropriate zoning/development and defying the Legal rights of nature. Nature is entitled to total respect. It also enables the health of all species when respected.
When such laws are over-thrown citizens have a democratic right to speak. Laws regulate human activity and governments are not above these laws, although the current times display governments changing laws to aid businesses/developers. Many of the latter also contribute to government parties. So you can see it is not a clear cut situation.
Yes, potholes are very dangerous and on this I concur. Council needs to address priorities and I suggest that your democratic voice and concerns would be best utilized in addressing local government on this issue. All the best of luck.
Mmmmmm maybe Jan Barham and her green comrades should’ve thought about this when she had the chance to follow the process all those many years ago. Bit rich of you lot to be complaining now. That goes for you to Hans. Let’s be honest now!! Whatever occurs there now is as a direct result of the greens. Shoulda pulled your finger out instead of now whinging like petulant spoilt infants. God forbid should I be suggesting you all are..lol!!