Patricia Warren, Brunswick Heads
The exhibited Plans of Management (POM) for Massy Greene and Ferry caravan parks focus on boundaries. Once set, they give the go ahead to up-market the accommodation mix to make these prime assets on the Brunswick River.
Getting amendments to the POMs has depended on locals’ fearless determination to keep critical slivers of foreshore land outside the commercial area of the caravan parks for general use.
The Massy Greene POM may have community support. However, not Ferry caravan park.
The critical issue here is the grassed foreshore. This was identified as illegally encroached land in 1988 and was excluded from the caravan park by Council in 2012. The North Coast Accommodation Trust took the issue to the then-minister for local government. There hasn’t been any resolution on the exclusion of this area to date. So these POMS are attempting, by default, to resolve that issue.
The grassed area varies in width from approx 20m to 30m along the Brunswick River. The exhibited POM intends to reduce this for public use to 7m. It effectively reduces the grassed area by over 55 per cent, not increasing it as claimed at Q11 on the feedback sheet.
Don’t respond to the draft POMs yet. Community groups will soon be sent thoughts for your consideration when giving feedback.
Given the recent changes in the Crown Lands Act, which provides for the sale of public lands, it is important that people take this opportunity to respond to the POMs with due consideration to how they want the foreshores of the Brunswick River best used in the future.
Riparian land access is very weak i Australia. We are very proud we do not have private beaches, but for historic reasons we have allowed quite limited public access along rivers. Byron Shire and other NSW residents should strongly object to any diminishing of public access to the foreshore.
There is also no place in Brunswick Heads for any more units in these parks – they are completely out of character with the town and with the idea of a camping holiday that was envisaged when the Byron Shire Council allowed that use of the land for holiday camping over a century ago. The existing cabins are also out of character and should over time be removed. Australian Taxation Office considers the realistic life expectancy of manufactured homes is 30 years. That provides a good basis to establish the date each unit should be removed from the reserves – thirty years after the date each was made.
We camped in Massey Reserve when my kids were small. The opportunity to camp in a place like Brunswick Heads is a valuable one that can give the children wonderful memories. The Shire can legitimately ask a very good fee for that privilege and that should be ample income for the Shire to enjoy, without depreciating the character of the reserve and of town that makes it so attractive.