Byron councillors look to expand Cavanbah Centre as final meeting held

Could the Byron Shire’s Cavanbah sports centre be significantly expanded to include two new basketball courts and a hydrotherapy pool?

This was the tantalising carrot dangled during the final meeting of the current Council term last Thursday – a meeting in which Council also waved goodbye to a trio of long-serving councillors.

In a late inclusion to the agenda, Mayor Michael Lyon put forward a mayoral minute proposing that Council investigates expanding the centre’s building eastwards to enable the construction of two extra basketball courts and a hydrotherapy pool.

The meeting heard that this would double the number of courts at the centre, an expansion that was needed to accommodate the shire’s growing basketball community.

Basketballers were among the main users of the centre, which was otherwise making a loss owing to lack of patronage.

‘It’s one of the things that actually makes money at the Cavanbah Centre, and if we were to extend it [to include the new courts] the initial costings show that it would actually reduce our losses in the building in terms of the increase in usage,’ Cr Lyon said.

Cr Lyon said the hydrotherapy pool would also be extensively utilised as it would be the only facility of its kind in the shire.

‘Given how long it’s going to take us to be doing anything in either Byron or Mullum, on the pool side of things, and given that the hospital is up the road, some sort of 20m warm water pool has real potential in an ageing population to have a lot of uptake,’ he said.

‘I expect that there will be some kind of aged accommodation village idea coming as well for around the hospital site, so I think it’s going to play into that.

‘It’s a big gap in our facilities at the moment that we don’t have something like that in our shire.’

The motion received unanimous support from councillors, reflecting what was a generally warm and collaborative final meeting of the current Council term.

Councillors retiring

With more than half of the current group choosing not to contest this Saturday’s election, the meeting was a farewell of sorts for five councillors, including long-standing representatives Alan Hunter (Independent), Duncan Dey (Greens), and Cate Coorey (Independent).

‘I will be sad to see the end of my life on Council – I’m also looking forward to it,’ Cr Coorey said.

‘When I reflect on my time here I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to serve my community’.

‘I’m really fortunate to have had some impact on how this shire and this community develops in the future’, Cr Coorey said.

Cr Hunter said he had enjoyed his 12 years on Council. ‘There’s no one in here I couldn’t call a friend,’ he said.

‘We haven’t agreed with each other all the time, but I think that’s part of the strength of us. The Council that was in office before I came on 12 years ago was very divided, and I like to think we changed that.

‘There’s nothing I can say that really encapsulates what I’ve gotten out of this experience as a councillor. Thank you for the opportunity, your friendship, your support, and your criticism at times. I’ve learned a lot from it.’

Cr Dey said that he hoped that there would be a lot more change in the future, particularly in relation to flood recovery, future planning, and ecological protection.

‘I apologise for not being able to sway the system enough to protect and define the ecology as much as I would like, but that’s the way it goes,’ Cr Dey said.

‘I wish the organisation well into the future, especially under sometimes trying circumstances. When the new Council sits, I’ll be here to wish them well.

‘For those of you who aren’t recontesting, farewell and see you on the other side’, Cr Dey added. 

Cr Peter Westheimer described the job as a ‘relentless, unpredictable and rewarding gig’.

He said, ‘It’s a  privilege – and at times a curse – to be able to vote on so many decisions and to be privy to so much eclectic information (that means interesting and sometimes tedious) about how our shire looks and works’.