With local business owners saying they still face closure from Byron Council road works, council staff will meet with businesses affected by the upcoming Lawson Street drainage works to discuss a range of measures intended to mitigate the impact of the poorly timed project.
But with the jackhammers ready to rumble this week, and financial compensation seemingly off the table, the meeting seems unlikely to ease the business owners’ pain.
As Council proudly spruiked its new Business, Industry, and Visitor Policy last month, staff were informing more than a dozen local business owners that drainage works lasting up to four months were due to begin on Lawson Street in just three weeks.
Coming on the back of a three-month water-main upgrade, and now the total closure of the street during the spring-summer is like a body blow to the small, grass roots operations there.
A number of the businesses say they will be forced to close if the works go ahead as planned without significant compensation. ‘We understand that the works need to be done… but if we could at least have been warned that this was going to happen, a lot of this pain could have been prevented,’ one of the affected business owners, Thomas Martin, told last week’s Council meeting.
‘It’s a dire situation in all honesty.’
Council says that the timing of the project cannot be changed, as it’s part of a packed schedule of drainage works across the Byron CBD that is funded through a state government grant that features strict completion deadlines.
In an attempt to reduce the impact of the works, councillors Cate Coorey (Independent) and Sarah Ndiaye (Greens) successfully moved a motion that will see staff, and the contractors undertaking the works, meet with the affected owners to discuss mitigation measures.
These include allowing the businesses to extend or vary their business hours, deferring footpath dining fees, and an advertising and signage campaign to let visitors and locals know that the businesses are still open.
Home grown precinct
‘I very much feel for these business owners,’ Cr Coorey said. ‘It’s one of our last precincts in the CBD of businesses that is home grown. I feel that they very much need a break, and they didn’t get very much notice.’
But Mr Martin said the proposed measures were vague and did not provide the financial support that the businesses would need to stay afloat. ‘It’s about the bottom line at the end of the day,’ Mr Martin said.
‘We’ve got employees to pay, we’ve got rent to pay, we’ve got suppliers to pay and if that turnover stops then that’s when everyone runs into trouble,’ he said.
During her speech on the issue, Cr Ndiaye acknowledged that there had been ‘a breakdown in communication’ and that there were lessons for staff and councillors to learn. She also indicated that Council had been aware that the works might take place ‘for a long time’.
‘I think it’s something that needs adjusting and fixing in the next term of Council,’ she said. ‘How do we have ongoing dialogue with our community that is productive and safe for both parties, and helpful in the long run?
‘I think sometimes it seems easier to stay hidden away and just try and get things done rather than engage.’
Ministers involved
Meanwhile, the affected business owners have also written to the NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Jenny Aitchison, pleading for an eleventh hour extension to the funding deadline, so that the works can be delayed until after Easter next year.
‘The timing will be absolutely catastrophic, delivering a devastating blow for some of the last remaining locally-owned businesses in the Byron Bay CBD,’ Mr Martin said in a letter to the minister.
‘You can make a real difference in saving these small businesses, people’s livelihoods and everyone that they support, and every mouth that they feed.
‘You can give us a chance to rebound and recover from the impact and losses endured from the previous works and prepare for this project. We ask that you grant a two to three-month extension to the June 30, 2025 expiry of this funding.
‘This will allow ample time for the works and documentation to be completed, after the Easter break in 2025,’ Mr Martin wrote.
Local NSW MP, Tamara Smith, told The Echo, ‘I am working closely with affected businesses and Council to see what measures can be taken to minimise the impact as these important drain and road works are undertaken.
‘I think night works should be on the table – yes it is more expensive, but we cannot let our local businesses face months of lost trade during their busiest season,’ Ms Smith said.
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