Greg Davies, Byron Bay
I write in support of Paul Jones (Echo, 19 December, 2018) and the host of others who have tried during the past 30 years to find agreement for a Byron Bay road bypass: as a standalone issue and as integral to the town Masterplan.
The secrecy of the terms for the privatisation of the rail corridor (Bangalow Road to Lawson Street) agreed between Council and Transport NSW smells like three-day-old prawn waste.
After more than a decade of a strictly out-of-bounds policy applied by the railway owner (trains ceased in 2004) the public have apparently been blinded to the most significant change in planning in Byron Bay this century: opening the rail corridor for development.
That development significantly expands the previously constrained possibilities for both the Butler Street bypass route and consequently amended Masterplan that were approved by Council in 2016. The public will have been ‘sold the dummy’ if only the plan for the proposed bus interchange is offered for feedback.
Clearly, a proper process of consultation is now needed to revisit and improve upon those previously approved plans.
Planning is cheap compared with the cost of the planned infrastructure.
