17.6 C
Byron Shire
April 22, 2024

Disappointing

Latest News

Mullumbimby railway station burns down

At around midnight last night, a fire started which engulfed the old Mullumbimby railway station. It's been twenty years since the last train came through, but the building has been an important community hub, providing office space for a number of organisations, including COREM, Mullum Music Festival and Social Futures.

Other News

REDinc’s new Performing Arts Centre is go!

It’s been a long wait, but two years on from the 2022 flood REDinc in Lismore have announced the official opening of a new Performing Arts Centre.

A festival in laneways

Mullumbimby, a town known for its abundance of artists and creatives with a passion for what drives them, is set to host the much-anticipated Laneways Festival 2024 on May 4 and 5.

Reef snapshot details widespread coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef

Latest CSIRO research shows that the fifth major bleaching event since 2016 is still unfolding, but bleaching was just one of the disturbances on the reef over summer.

New chef at Crystalbrook Byron

Joachim Borenius has been appointed as the new executive chef at Crystalbrook Byron resort’s signature restaurant, Forest. Joachim Borenius brings...

Rural roads need a path to recovery

The recent and continuing rains have turned many of our roads into a sodden mud puddle and the NSW Farmers have renewed calls for real action on road infrastructure funding after continual damage on roads and bridges across the state.

Some spending cannot be questioned

The euphemisms were flying when Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles announced last week that an extra $50 billion would be spent on our military over the next decade, and that $72.8 billion of already announced spending would be redirected.

The actions of the Byron Shire Director of Infrastructure toward some members of the Water, Waste & Sewer Advisory Committee (WWSAC) need to be exposed.

The WWSAC actually had the audacity to vote against a recommendation from Water & Recycling staff at their previous meeting. The Director of Infrastructure then placed on the elected Council’s meeting agenda 24 September 2021 that the elected Council reject the WWSAC’s recommendation and for the councillors to endorse the Water & Recycling staff’s recommendation.

What is the message the Director of Infrastructure is sending? It seems to be that even if the learned people on the WWSAC make a responsible recommendation he is willing to have it removed.

The Head Design Engineer employed by BSC in W&R has informed the committee members that he will not be communicating directly with them and that any questions they have should be sent to the Utility Manager.

How is an employee of Council employed in a position like this allowed to refuse to consult with a committee he actually sits on? This person who is employed by BSC should not be able to remove themselves from answering questions by committee members trying to make informed recommendations to the elected Council.

The Director of Infrastructure and the Design Engineer have endorsed that the inflow /infiltration (I/I) problem in Mullumbimby has been solved by a contractor relining the gravity mains. I wonder about the accuracy of this when, after the relining was completed, the inflow figures into Brunswick Valley during heavy rain events reached fifteen times dry weather flow.

Can the Director of Infrastructure release what was the total expenditure for supposedly solving this problem?

Alan Dickens, Brunswick Heads


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1 COMMENT

  1. WHERE does the line of Authority and Transparency legally reside in NSW State and Local Politics ? Where does Public Interest also reside in this every changing dynamic in Local Councils, notably Byron Shire Council?

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Flood insurance inquiry’s North Coast hearings 

A public hearing into insurers’ responses to the 2022 flood was held in Lismore last Thursday, with one local insurance brokerage business owner describing the compact that exists between insurers and society as ‘broken’. 

Getting ready for the 24/25 bush fire season

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Keeping watch on Tyalgum Road

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