Mullum’s open – but expect significant delays getting out of town

Hundreds of people gathered in Mullumbimby last Thursday, (October 9), parading up the main street playing music and calling to ‘Keep Mullum Open’.

They arrived with great fanfare at the Byron Shire Council (BSC) chambers to let councillors know they wanted more effective management of the outbound traffic from Mullumbimby north to Brunswick Heads and the M1 (especially Council’s planned diversion of outbound Mullumbimby Road traffic for four months north along the dangerous Coolamon Scenic Drive), and south along Myocum Road, which also has safety and economic impacts.

A last-ditch meeting between councillors, staff, the Mullumbimby Chamber of Commerce and Community, and other community members the day before the gathering had drawn some concessions from Council on managing the roadworks.

Council’s concessions included: extending working hours from 7am to 3pm five days a week to 7am to 6pm, six days a week; turning The Saddle Road into a one-way traffic road from Mullumbimby to Gulgan Road near the Brunswick Heads roundabout to take light vehicles at 40kph with traffic calming; and a request to Mullumbimby High School to consider ‘additional traffic control measures’.

Mullumbimby Chamber President Paul Prior, said on behalf of the chamber that he was grateful for the concessions from Council, reminding everyone that ‘Mullum is open for business’ with Mullumbimby Road having a direct flow of traffic at least into the town from Brunswick Heads and the M1.

‘It’s in, easy; out, not quite so easy. But we’re asking everyone to support Mullum and all the businesses,’ Mr Prior told the crowd, who seemed underwhelmed by the message.

The Saddle Road back on the table

However, The Saddle Road Local Area Management Planning Association (SRLAMPA) told The Echo that, ‘Many months ago, and for good reasons, Council made the sensible decision to scrap The Saddle Road as a detour during Stage 2 of their Mullumbimby roadworks’.

‘Reversing this decision is a knee-jerk reaction to the community’s expression of frustration about the serious financial, social and mental impact these poorly-planned roadworks will have on a sizeable proportion of the shire’s residents. That Council could not see this coming is staggering,’ they said.

‘Sending thousands of vehicles down a winding, decades-long-neglected laneway will potentially endanger the lives of people and wildlife, cause environmental degradation and do little to alleviate the impending chaos.

‘The mishandling of roadworks on Mullumbimby Road is a case study of Council incompetence. Sensible requests by multiple community groups to replan using a sub-road, stop and go traffic, and night works have all been ignored.’

Postpone the works

Former Mullumbimby Music Festival Director and local business owner, Glenn Wright, who led the musical street parade, also spoke to the gathered crowd of around 300 on the day.

He stressed that everyone wanted the road improvements to go ahead and take place at some time, but the ‘process’ was inadequate. He said that the ‘meeting on Wednesday with the Council, GM, and Chamber of Commerce was helpful, but did not go far enough’.

‘It felt like it was the first real community consultation that I’d experienced in relation to the matter in three months of trying,’ he told The Echo.

‘There were a number of outcomes that will help mitigate some of the challenges that the community will face in relation to this. That being said, the works should be postponed, the grant timeline extended, and the process of community consultation, community safety, and the financial burden of decisions made should not weigh so heavily on the businesses in the town of Mullum.’

Mayor Ndiaye sought to address the crowd prior to the BSC meeting, restating that the roadworks would stop flooding, before going on to say that she hoped those in the crowd would put up their hands to be councillors, and that Glenn Wright should restart his Mullumbimby Music Festival, before the crowd became restive and she relinquished the microphone.

In open access at the Byron Shire Council (BSC) meeting, following the gathering, local business owner Sharon McGrath asked, ‘Has Council sought a variation from the relevant grant authorities to allow for modification of the construction plan which would provide for two-way traffic, thereby minimising disruption, economic impacts and public safety?’

‘A Council staff member replied, “No” however, the Mayor, Sarah Ndiaye, then said the question would be taken on notice,’ explained Ms McGrath.

Consultation

While putting the motion for extended working hours, etc, Mayor Ndiaye listed the Council’s process of community engagement including press releases, social media posts, and other consultations.

However, Ms McGrath and Mr Wright said they had struggled to get responses from Council when they had tried, over many months, to engage with them on the issues of safety and the impact on local businesses.

‘The mayor has said they will extend the hours of work and also has committed to other measures to help over the period, after the last two days of discussions. But the consultation process is happening now, long after the decision was made.

‘My work colleague made four calls, once a week, to Council’s dedicated works line, to field questions on the works. No response. I then emailed and waited ten days for a response. I then started to make noise and got an email, and later a call. That’s six weeks for a response,’ said Mr Wright.

‘By 25 June it had been decided by Council and it was presented as “this is what is going to happen”. The Saddle Road was walked away from in mid-May, so the Council consultation that the mayor talks about must have taken place in May or early June, but no one I have talked to was consulted at that time.’

Ms McGrath agrees, saying she has been engaging with Council since June and advocating for greater transparency.

Speaking to The Echo she said she was cautious about the proposed Mayoral Minute. While she welcomed Council’s move toward consultation, she said the concessions offered would do little to address the serious economic and safety impacts of the detour routes – and would again place the burden on The Saddle Road.

Something is broken

During Council debate on the new measures, Councillor Asren Pugh told the chamber, ‘somewhere in the process, something was broken and didn’t work, and we’ve caused confusion for the staff who are supposed to be implementing, we’ve potentially caused delays.

‘I think that we need to reflect on this. We can’t just blame people getting riled up about it… we need to reflect on it and take some responsibility for the potential delays and certainly some of the confusion around what’s going on.’

Safety issues

Of particular concern are the continuing safety issues of the alternative routes with Mr Wright telling The Echo, ‘If you look at the national road and traffic accidents and injuries, the deaths and fatalities – road safety is at the top of the list, not flooding… although the works are worthwhile, they are not worth the cost of risk of loss of life putting three to four times the safe traffic capacity of Coolamon Scenic Drive for four months, not worth the loss of business and financial burden on the business owners in Mullumbimby in the lead up to Christmas, not worth the anxiety for the residents of The Saddle Road or Tyagarah Road due to the increased traffic on their roads, not worth the extended traffic jam outside Mullum High School each day between 2.30pm and 3.15pm, and not worth the stress on the Mullumbimby High School HSC students that will struggle during their HSC exams if a solution there is not found,’ he said.