17.6 C
Byron Shire
March 29, 2024

Pothole protest gets immediate results

Latest News

Resilient Lismore’s ‘Repair to Return’ funding

On the eve of the second anniversary of the second devastating flood in 2022, Resilient Lismore has welcomed the finalisation of its funding deed with the NSW Reconstruction Authority, which will enable the continuation of its ‘Repair to Return’ program.

Other News

NORPA’s wild ride at Lismore Showgrounds

NORPA is taking audiences on an adventure outside the theatre once again, announcing it will stage its original work Wildskin in a warehouse space at the Lismore Showgrounds. A sensory, destination theatre experience, Wildskin inhabits an outrageous and unpredictable world that’s part bush-thriller, part road-trip and a whole lot of NORPA’s signature theatrical style.

Casuarina cricketers too strong for Mullumbimby Brunswick in grand final

Mullumbimby Brunswick Cricket Club (MBCC) had a very successful season finishing second on the ladder at the end of the home and away season with 13 wins and 4 losses, but fell short of winning the grand final against the Casuarina Crocs.

Dynamic, rustic yet polished

Animal Ventura is the brainchild of Byron Bay-based singer-songwriter Fernando Aragones. Growing up playing punk and reggae in noisy garage bands in Southern Brazil, Aragones ventured to Australia where the eclectic sounds of the Sydney music scene beckoned.

Man charged over domestic violence and pursuit offences – Tweed Heads

A man has been charged following a pursuit near Tweed Heads on Monday.

Records galore!

Byron Bay Easter Record Fair returns again to Ewingsdale Hall. Now in its 15th year, the Byron Bay Easter Record Fair is one of the biggest and best in this country. Matt the Vinyl Junkie has spent years on buying trips to the US and Japan scouring dusty warehouses, shops, flea markets and private collections. He can offer an astounding 30,000 records in one place covering most genres.

Community grants on offer

Ingrained Foundation is running its fifth annual grants program, with a funding pool of $150,000.

Upper Main Arm residents walked through Mullum demanding Council action on the poor state of their roads

Psst: want to get Council staff to do something about the appalling state of roads in your neighbourhood?

Organise a protest outside Mullum’s Council Chambers!

By the time a hardy crew of Upper Main Arm residents had gathered on Thursday at noon to highlight the dangerous state of their road, which had been disintegrating since the year after the floods, Council road works crew had graded the worst bits that morning. 

It appeared the basic work that residents were requesting took all of about four hours.

Upper Main Arm connects to Tweed Shire Council managed roads, which link to Uki and Murwillumbah.

Those roads, while also severely damaged a year ago, were graded some time ago, and are in much better condition.  

A day prior to Council grading the road on Thursday and the protest, Council’s chief of infrastructure, Phil Holloway, put out a lengthy press release around the challenges of road repairs in the hinterland, owing in part to a lack of funds.

He said, ‘One of Byron Shire Council’s main areas of focus in 2023 is managing a $180 million program of flood recovery work designed to provide improvements and solutions to roads and bridges that will be able to stand up to future flood events’.

‘We are very aware that much of this work will be starting 12 months after the floods and it is a frustrating wait for those in our community who are negotiating damaged roads, bridges and causeways as part of their daily routine.

Holloway added ‘a lot of work happening behind the scenes,’ and that like other affected councils, Byron Council has ‘never dealt with a disaster of this magnitude’.

‘For a small, regional Council like Byron Shire, a damage bill of more than $180 million, is beyond our financial capacity and we are working with the NSW Government to secure funding and planning scope and detail of each project and sourcing contractors are not things that can be done quickly,” he said.

‘At Upper Main Arm, reconstruction work is not expected to start until the second quarter 2023 pending approvals from Transport for New South Wales.

‘In the meantime Council is looking at doing some temporary grading work as an interim measure until the reconstruction work gets underway.

‘Prior to Christmas the clearing of culverts was finished, along with some other emergency roadwork such as road pavement works at Palmwoods Road.

‘Council has also prepared applications for additional funding to improve the resilience of the Main Arm Road to withstand future flooding events.

‘The results of the funding applications, which are expected in early 2023, will inform the extent and type of repairs’.  

$1.1m promised by NSW Coalition

Meanwhile, with the state election looming for March 25, the NSW Coalition government announced additional funding for councils across Ballina electorate  on Wednesday, ‘as part of the $500 million Regional and Local Roads Repair Program to fix more potholes’. 

The press release reads, ‘Byron Shire Council will receive $1,110,667 to fix 609km of council owned roads’. 

‘We also provided cash advances for emergency disaster funding to eligible councils and have diverted Transport for NSW road crews to help fix local roads. 

‘I encourage councils to get the deeds signed quickly so that funding for your local and regional roads gets to you sooner for essential repairs to get underway.’ 

Protest co-organiser Kol Diamond used a loud speaker outside Council to highlight the lack of duty of care by Council, and the long delays in them acting. The roads had become dangerous and cars were regularly being damaged owing to the large size of the potholes, he said. Mayor Michael Lyon was called upon to address residents, but failed to show. Instead, a Council staffer spoke to Diamond.


Support The Echo

Keeping the community together and the community voice loud and clear is what The Echo is about. More than ever we need your help to keep this voice alive and thriving in the community.

Like all businesses we are struggling to keep food on the table of all our local and hard working journalists, artists, sales, delivery and drudges who keep the news coming out to you both in the newspaper and online. If you can spare a few dollars a week – or maybe more – we would appreciate all the support you are able to give to keep the voice of independent, local journalism alive.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Editorial – Joyous propaganda! 

The NSW Labor government marked its one year in office this week with a jubilant statement of achievements issued from Macquarie Street HQ.

Man charged over domestic violence and pursuit offences – Tweed Heads

A man has been charged following a pursuit near Tweed Heads on Monday.

Where should affordable housing go in Tweed Shire?

Should affordable and social housing in the Tweed Shire be tucked away in a few discreet corners? Perhaps it should be on the block next to where you live?

Making Lismore Showground accessible to everyone

The Lismore Showground isn’t just a critical local community asset that plays host to a number of major events each year, but has also been used as an evacuation centre during past natural disasters in the region.