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Byron Shire
March 28, 2024

Have your say on housing and growth

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Lismore. Photo supplied.

Lismore City Council is seeking community feedback on two draft plans intended to guide the location and type of housing to support recovery in coming decades.

They say they want to ensure suitable flood-free land is available for economic growth.

The Draft Growth and Realignment Strategy sets out potential growth areas across Lismore for residential, commercial and industrial land, as well as recommending a long-term planned retreat from the most high-risk flood affected areas.

The Draft Affordable and Diverse Housing Strategy identifies key housing data for Lismore and suggests measures that council can undertake to stimulate additional affordable and medium-density housing projects.

Lismore Council is seeking ideas and feedback from the community to ensure council is doing everything it can to facilitate the delivery of more affordable and diverse housing and ensure future growth areas are in line with community expectations.

330 submissions

Lismore City Council General Manager John Walker said there was significant community engagement with the Discussion Paper that Council put out in May, with around 330 submissions received that have informed the development of these draft strategies.

Lismore GM John Walker. Photo David Lowe.

‘There is a diverse range of views about how and where we plan and build for Lismore’s future, but the desire for more affordable and diverse housing came through loud and clear,’ he said.

‘We have now gone to the next stage in developing two key strategic planning documents that will guide both “where” and “what” in terms of future developments.’

Council staff say the next part of the process is to check back in with the residents and other stakeholders to make sure long-term planning is in keeping with community sentiment.

How to have your say

Anyone can speak to council staff regarding the draft strategies at the following events:

  • Wednesday, 28 September, 3-5pm at the Nimbin Farmers Markets.
  • Thursday, 29 September and Thursday, October 6, 3-5pm at the Lismore Produce Markets (with additional dates at the Lismore Produce Market if requested).
  • Thursday 20 October to Saturday, 22 October at the North Coast National Show.

Members of the public can also book a place and come along to one of the following meetings:

  • Wednesday, 5 October, 5pm at the Caniaba Cricket Club, Caniaba.
  • Thursday, 6 October, 5pm at the Clunes Hall, Clunes.
  • Monday, 10 October, 5pm at Invercauld House, Goonellabah.

To find out more, make a booking or provide your feedback online, visit https://yoursay.lismore.nsw.gov.au/ before October 24.


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1 COMMENT

  1. We need a community-led recovery, not a developer-led one. Rushing to rezone land has got nothing to do with recovery and everything to do with profit for a few. In an ABC news report on the same issue, John Walker spoke about the 3000 existing empty lots – if all these were acquired for the flooded, that would be a great start, and should be the priority, if you were really serious about recovery. Saying that this rezoning push has anything to do with recovery is actually just BS, I think. Nobody in the floodplain would be able to afford those parcels of land, so it’s just about more development of our countryside and about squeezing existing community out, and making more unreal estate that only city folks can afford. Great for the real estate industry and developers, but not great for our community or environment. It’s actually abusive if you look at it clearly. It’s opportunistic and parasitic, basically a form of disaster capitalism, because it’s pretending to be for community but it is not for us at all. It’s operating on the same old ‘trickle down economics; neoliberal philosophy that we all know now does not work. This won’t fix the housing crisis. The only thing that will fix that will be to totally prioritise relocating those who need to get out of harms way, and creating opportunities for community-led social and affordable housing to happen. And keeping the unreal estate developers RIGHT OUT OF IT. rack off and let us recover.

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