The bus terminal slated for the Byron Bay’s Butler Street Reserve may now be built on the eastern side of the proposed Butler Street bypass, near the water tower.
A previous plan by Sydney bureaucrats for the market site, which is also a former tip site, was rejected by Byron Shire Councillors, and came without public consultation. Staff also requested that councillors make a decision within days of being given the plans.
Byron Mayor Simon Richardson said in a statement that the council held a meeting with the department and the ministers about ‘how the relocation of the bus interchange to the eastern side of Butler Street might best work to meet our community’s expectations.’
‘A more considered design will complement the bypass and will reflect what the community told us they wanted during the Byron Town Centre Masterplan process,’ he said.
Stallholder certainty
As a result, the mayor says local market operators and stallholders will now have certainty about the ongoing use of the site.
The council’s acting general manager Mark Arnold said, ‘Council will now be sitting down with the market operators and other stakeholders to work through what the future of the Butler Street Reserve might look like.’
‘The footprint of the proposed interchange on Butler Street Reserve made the long-term ability for markets to be located on the site highly unlikely, but now – apart from the interruption from the bypass construction – the ongoing use of that area can once more be planned for.’
The government changed its plans to build a bus interchange on the Butler Street Reserve, he said, after an environmental assessment of the site found it would not be suitable for that type of development.
Local state MP Tamara Smith told The Echo, ‘Congratulations to the community once again for standing up to the bureaucrats in Sydney about what happens to our towns.’
The Echo asked the council, ‘What assurance are there that this former tip site is not posing a contamination risk to the public?’ and, ‘Are there plans available that demonstrate that this location will be viable alongside the bypass?’ No reply was received by deadline.
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