Paul Bibby
A move to put paid parking in Brunswick Heads back on the table this year appears to have the numbers within Byron Council, reigniting the long-running battle over the issue.
Mayor Simon Richardson and fellow Greens councillor Jeanette Martin are leading the push to have the matter reconsidered in October, reversing a decision at Council’s last meeting to defer any consideration of paid parking until August 2021.
Moves to implement paid parking are strongly opposed by the town’s chamber of commerce owing in part to the ongoing and unknown impacts of COVID-19.
If the mayor’s rescission motion succeeds, it signifies a change of mind for Greens Crs Sarah Ndiaye, Michael Lyon and independent councillor Cate Coorey; all three supported a deferral at the last meeting.
Councilor Coorey and Councillor Ndiaye initially moved an alternative motion, recommended by staff, to defer the matter until this October, but this was defeated.
Independent councillor Cate Coorey told The Echo that she would support the rescission motion.
‘They [local business owners] asked for extra data and we got extra data, they asked a year ago us to put it off and we put it off’.
‘There’s a huge number of people coming into the Shire and they pay nothing for all the facilities that they use.
‘I don’t think anyone is not going to come to Brunswick Heads because of paid parking.’
Mayor Richardson said that, should the rescission motion be successful, he will move that consideration of paid parking be brought forward to October this year in accordance with the recommendation of Council staff.
He also said that, if this motion was successful, he would be arguing in October for paid parking to be introduced on weekends and public holidays in time for the next summer peak season.
‘We believe we’ve done as much as we can to allay the concerns,’ Cr Richardson said.
‘We already delayed making a decision, we got an economic impact report, we’ve had workshops and meetings – I think we’ve done our due diligence.
‘People who fear it are never going to accept any of the data we generate, but I think it’s pretty clear. All we’re trying to do is to get something for the Shire’s infrastructure from the thousands of day trippers who come into Bruns on a busy weekend.’
The opponents of paid parking, lead by Brunswick Heads Chamber of Commerce, say that paid parking would have a negative economic impact on the town at a time when it has already been hit hard by COVID-19.
They say that the figures showing very high parking occupancy rates in Brunswick Heads are inflated, and that the economic analysis commissioned by council is inaccurate.
The president of the Chamber, Kim Rosen, said people’s livelihoods and jobs were at stake.
‘The businesses are facing the cliff at the end of September when job keeper ends,’ Ms Rosen said.
‘We surveyed 56 businesses in Brunswick Heads about the impact of COVID and extrapolating from that we’ve got a total of 470 jobs at risk or gone in the town.
Ms Rosen said it wasn’t only local business owners who opposed paid parking.
‘Council’s own survey found 60 per cent of Brunswick Heads residents don’t want paid parking, even with Council offering the sweetener that all of the revenue would go to Bruns,’ she said.
‘Now they’re saying that only 50 per cent of the revenue will go here. I can’t see locals supporting it at all.’
The success or failure of the rescission motion will likely depend on the two remaining Greens councillors, Michael Lyon and Sarah Ndiaye, and independent councillor Cate Coorey.
The remaining four councillors are almost certain to oppose it.
Cr Lyon said he was open to being persuaded to support the rescission motion.
‘It will be good to get some final clarity on some of the data on the occupancy of spaces and I have always said that once that data justifies paid parking in Brunswick Heads, we need to put it in.’
The Bruns chamber said Greens councillor Sarah Ndiaye did a backflip by first supporting a deferral, then later signing the rescission motion against the deferral.
‘She tossed her ethics to the wind and provided the third signature required to bring the debate back to the table in August,’ the chamber’s Kim Rosen said.
But Cr Ndiaye said she had always supported the introduction of paid parking in Brunswick Heads and other parts of the Shire.
‘The real question is ‘when’, and hopefully we’ll have a better indication of that after the next meeting of Council.
‘It’s rarely popular with people, but neither is driving around in circles trying to find a park.’
Mrs Rosen said introducing paid parking on Bruns by Christmas will add ‘another crushing blow to our small business sector, who will still be suffering from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on top of all the other blows’.
He wrote, ‘Cr Richardson, you showed compassion on ABC radio only a few weeks ago when you said that the cancellation of Splendour on top of the bushfires, floods and Bluesfest cancellation this year was “almost cataclysmic” for Byron Shire businesses.
‘So please, Cr Richardson (and the other Green councillors) show some of this compassion for Bruns businesses too and withdraw this rescission motion’.
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