Resident group’s last ditch bid to halt West Byron development

The Byron Residents’ Group has issued a shout out to locals to rally at the Byron Shire Council chambers at 1pm today, where the Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP) is set to decide the future of the ‘local’ plan for a massive new development at West Byron.

Opposition to the plan, which has already been recommended for refusal by Byron Shire Council, has ratcheted up further with a blitz of last-minute changes to the application in the last few days.

Residents Group founder, Cr Cate Coorey said a show of numbers was vital to show the panel how great the opposition to the project was.

She added she was ‘getting the impression it [the meeting] will be packed’.

‘My phone’s been going off with people saying they’re going to be coming; I suspect we’ll spill out into the street,’ Cr Coorey told Echonetdaily.

She said councillors had received ‘no indication from the JRPP as to which way the panel was leaning.

‘There’s a “Chinese wall” so councillors are not part of the process if they’ve already voted on it.

No Byron Shire councillors would be sitting on the panel, she said.

‘Because there is no Byron councillor who hasn’t been involved in the process, Tweed mayor Katie Milne and Lismore deputy mayor Elly Bird will act as the community representatives, she added.

Cr Coorey was adamant the late addition of so much new information made the prospect of the panel making a considered decision impossible.

‘Heaps of the docs weren’t avail until last week – we’re looking at a development that adds 20 per cent growth to Byron in one fell swoop, with 1 week to look at latest data.

‘There is lot of unhappiness about that. And the JRPP website hasn’t been working properly so I couldn’t download all the docs,’ she said.

The JRPP meeting commences at Byron Shire Council chambers at 1pm.