Mat Morris, GM, North Byron Parklands
North Byron Parklands’ application for permanency has been on public exhibition for the past 8 weeks and during that time a few people have asked me why the application wasn’t lodged with Bryon Shire Council for determination.
Under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (EP&A Act) any application greater than $20m must go the relevant Joint Regional Planning Panel for determination. If an application of the North Byron Parklands type is over $30m it must go to the Department of Planning and Environment (DP&E) for approval. Parklands application is $44m and as such under the EP&A Act, the project cannot legally be determined by the council. There is no choice in the matter.
Many shire residents might recall Parklands originally sought and received approval from Council to host a trial event at this venue back in 2009, however it was challenged in court by some members of the community and was subsequently invalidated.
Since those days Parklands has built a solid relationship with Byron Council who have played a not insignificant role in the latest application. Councillors Richardson, Hunter and Cameron who are all members of the Parklands Regulatory Working Group have been kept abreast of the drafting of the current application as far back as April 2017. Council’s Planning Manager, Chris Larkin who attended both RWG meetings in 2017 was also appraised of the progress of the application. Council provided a detailed submission to the DP&E in January 2017 specifying what it wanted to see in the final application.
Parklands also held a number of community consultation days as well as meetings with a range of government organisations, Aboriginal groups and landowners and the wider community to determine a range of views about the application.
Over the past ten events Byron Council has played a regulatory and compliance role across a number of areas under its jurisdiction and pleasingly this will continue to take place should the application be approved. I would like to thank the council staff for their ongoing feedback regarding the project and, in particular, Crs Cameron, Hunter and Richardson for their ongoing participation, analysis and identification of improvement opportunities in their role as members of Parklands Regulatory Working Group.
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. 
