To quote a Joni Mitchell song, ‘They paved paradise and put in a parking lot’ – this adequately describes what Byron Shire Council is proposing for New Brighton.
The proposal is to clear the entire 20m road reserve of Park Street and Ocean Avenue of all vegetation and pave it to provide 136 car spaces. Parking is so prioritised that pedestrian access cannot be provided.
Stormwater run-off will have to flow into adjoining properties and in times of severe rainfall events and high tide could result in the lower lying residences flooding. Almost certainly the intersection of Park Street and Ocean Avenue and River Street will be impassable.
Byron Council’s own LEP acknowledges that New Brighton is a sensitive environmental location that is flood prone and affected by coastal processes – demonstrated by the fact that even granny flats are prohibited.
Council’s own Marshalls Creek flood plan prohibits filling of the land and directing stormwater inappropriately, yet this proposal seems to tick all the boxes.
Paul Montgomery, New Brighton
