The controversial decision to rezone and then approve nine lots in the environmentally and sensitive coastal and flood-prone land at the former Club Med site at 144 Bayshore Drive, Byron Bay, now has another development application (DA 10.2025.275.1) pending to turn three of those lots, via community title, into seven lots with five housing entitlements.
The council decision to publicly exhibit the plan to rezone the site in 2020 went through on the casting vote of then-mayor Simon Richardson, with then-councillor and current Mayor Sarah Ndiaye and Cr Cate Coorey strongly opposing the rezoning. At the time Cr Ndiaye highlighted: the fragile nature of the area; that it was premature to rezone the land prior to the completion of the coastal management program; the fact that no further residential development is supposed to take place east of the highway; and the impact on the broader community.
When it was reported in November 2021 after public exhibition, again Ndiaye and Coorey presented an alternate motion that opposed adopting the rezoning including that the site was ‘heavily flood prone’ and ‘inconsistent with the Belongil Floodplain Risk Management Plan’
No more than nine
At the time Elements of Byron was seeking approval for the nine lots, Development Director Jeremy Holmes told The Echo that, ‘The proposed allotments would be a minimum of one hectare, providing ample space for a single dwelling to be located in cleared grassed areas only. The E4 zone would permit dwelling houses but not secondary dwellings or dual occupancy, so there could never be more than nine houses,’ he explained.
‘In consultation with Council staff, E4 Environmental Living was identified as the most appropriate zoning for that part of the land not impacted by coastal hazard.’
Concerns over how filling in this site to build homes will impact on the runoff of the rainwater in the event of a flood and the environmental sensitivity of the site have also been raised.
Byron Shire Council (BSC), prior to exhibition of the rezoning, had failed to consider BSC’s 2015 Belongil Creek Floodplain Risk Management Plan (BCFRMP) that maps the flood risk in the catchment and clearly identifies this area identified for rezoning as a being a ‘no-go area for development’ because it is a high flood-risk area.
The planning proposal submissions raised questions regarding coastal management, flood risk, and liability for Council in approving development in this known high-risk area.
The report post exhibition revealed that the applicants had provided additional information regarding flood risk which staff had accepted, in doing so, it overturned the adopted Floodplain Risk Management Plan and identification of the rezoning site as a ‘no development’ area due to high risk flood but without peer review or further public exhibition.
The site, which used to be a nine-hole golf course, has both a history of flooding and has recently had coastal protection works approved due to coastal vulnerability and to retain safe public access to the beach.
Coastal protection works approved
The Northern Regional Planning Panel’s (NRPP) decision on 18 August, 2025 approved a DA that allows an extension of coastal protection works, in the form of a temporary, five year extension of an existing geobag wall at 144 Bayshore Drive, Byron Bay. The decision was 3:2.
While the majority of the panel supported the BSC staff recommendation for approval and that impacts on adjacent coastal lands and beach access were ‘not likely’, it was unclear if council had received expert coastal advice.
NRPP members Professor Bruce Thom AM and Pamela Dean-Jones, both former members of the NSW Coastal Council, wrote a dissenting report.
They say, ‘The proposed extension increases the scale of the works in Belongil Creek and brings the works closer to the beach where there is a high likelihood of complex process and hazard interactions,’ Mr Thom and Ms Dean-Jones stated.
‘There are no requirements to mitigate increased risk associated with the existing structure (which did not require consent at the time it was constructed) and its contribution to cumulative impacts will continue unmitigated.’
‘We are not confident that the proposed management measures will avoid an increase in the likelihood of hazards on other land or will be sufficient to mitigate the scope of increased hazard interactions and consequences (risks) which could occur over the five-year life of the works.’
You can make a submission on the current DA until 9 October via the BSC website www.byron.nsw.gov.au.
Elements have a website with their proposal here: www.nbbrproposal.com.au
Related links:
Beachside Belongil housing development a step closer after Council rezoning decision
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