Ballina Shire Council returns to its chambers tomorrow after an extended break. The agenda is even more hectic than usual.
There will be a report on the findings of the recent Finance and Facilities Committee meeting, which resolved to abandon the dream of building medium density community housing in Wollongbar, due to cost, and confirmed the scope of Ballina’s CCTV network upgrade.
In the same meeting, an attempt to sell 26 Endeavor Close Ballina, and compensate the main tenants, the Lismore naval cadets, failed by four votes to six.
Tomorrow, Cr Therese Crollick is bringing a motion to take steps to create a North Coast Convention Centre in Ballina, possibly utilising the current Wigmore Car Park, with an additional car park to be created elsewhere.
Cr Crollick says, ‘Council has spent a significant amount of money over the years upgrading our airport which could have greater use and capacity.
‘Corporate/conference tourism is a significant part of the tourism market and benefits the local economy plus providing an income to Council for the hire of space within a Convention Centre.
‘The Ballina RSL – the go-to venue for events over many years – does not now have the capacity that a centre like Ballina needs to host major events, we previously hosted an LGA conference in conjunction with Lismore,’ said Cr Crollick.
‘We should be able to do that again but simply don’t have the capacity to do so – we do host a number of events but we could bid for and host many more diverse events if we had a state of the art, modern convention facility.’
Food security
In another motion, Cr Erin Karsten is seeking to support protection for high quality agricultural land across the shire, with a view to better complementing the national Food Security Strategy.
Cr Karsten says, ‘While I know the idea of looking at rural land use has been explored in the past, the review of the Food Security Strategy and the global pressures on food systems, as well as the demand for housing and development, I feel, makes this a prescient issue.
‘In particular the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in looking at food security highlighted that climate change, economic shocks, biosecurity threats, geopolitical factors and supply chain disruptions can all have a significant impact on food security.’
The long-running saga of 23 Compton Drive, East Ballina, currently the site of a ruined restaurant, is likely to be determined tomorrow, with staff recommending that Ballina Council support its demolition and transformation into a large house, as the owner has been requesting for some time.
Ballina’s mayor Sharon Cadwallader will present two mayoral minutes, the first calling for the establishment of a National Coastal Hazards Adaptation Strategy, and the other to investigate paving options to create a space suitable for dancing outside the Wharf Bar and Restaurant.
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