Jo Faith, Newtown
I was gobsmacked when I read that the ‘Greens’ mayor’s parting gift was to aid privatisation of land at the Belongil Spit. Indeed, it was hard to digest the fact that Greens councillors will support this by sending a letter to the State Government requesting rezoning of the Belongil Spit’s LEP.
I ask – have they visited the land with environmental concerns in mind?
The existing golf course will potentially see the development of houses that have ‘green labels’ – a form of green legal puff that upholds an Environmental Living Zone. The latter is land with special environmental or scenic values, where residential development can be accommodated. This land is on the Elements Estate. The area where, over the last thirty two years, the community have fought the No Club Med campaign and the Becton proposals.
The most astounding feature of this proposed development is that it backs onto the thinnest of dunes with the sea directly behind.
Over the past 30 years the area has been rapidly losing dunes. An area that was formerly a road has gone. A large building was removed owing to dune erosion, and the possibility that it was dangerous and would topple.
No seafront development in the state of NSW is impervious to the devastating challenges of sea levels rising owing to the ongoing effects of climate change. The Byron community have, for years, fought this type of development.
This proposal is sheer lunacy and certainly not sustainable or affordable to Byron Shire’s ratepayers. The mayor is not thinking of the community. This is ‘crony’ behaviour.
I ask – will Ben Franklin be involved in this ‘deal’ to aid the mayor and the developer? The bypass ignored community and environmental concerns too.
Resistance and transparency please.
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. 
