Thursday saw all Byron Shire councillors pass a motion that ‘commences work on the development of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Byron Shire Council and Homes NSW to establish a framework for collaboration on housing outcomes across the Byron Shire Local Government Area’. ‘The purpose of the MoU is to expedite the delivery of new social and affordable housing, including renewed and accessible housing’.
This has particular relevance to the future development of the Mullumbimby Hospital site which the community has fought long and hard to retain in public hands. On Monday night the local community, made up of Mullumbimby Hospital Action Group (MHAG), Mullumbimby Residents Association (MRA), and Greens councillors, called a meeting to address concerns and gauge future community support for the site.
It quickly became clear that there is strong support and social licence for the site to provide public, social, Arakwal, and genuinely affordable housing with some members of the audience calling for the site to be funded exclusively for public housing.
Cr Elia Hauge was clear that the Development Control Plan (DCP) was where the community currently needs to focus its energy when it is released for comment in March.
‘We are calling on the state government to come to the table and be part of this project with us and potentially also the federal government with the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF),’ said Cr Hauge.
‘It is time for them to step up and deliver some public housing for this community, some social housing, Aboriginal housing, diverse housing, housing for families, and older people.’
Comment on DCP
Cr Hauge explained that the DCP guides what will be built on the hospital site – from types of buildings and infrastructure to transport and access and tree cover.
Cr Hauge pointed out that the two key aspects of the DCP that people need to look at, and comment on, are the performance criteria and the prescriptive measures which actually detail what must be achieved in the next stage of the development, the proposed development application (DA), and determine the specific criteria that the final DA will be measured against.
For example: how the intersection upgrade will be assessed; that the ‘building that goes on the corner of Azalea Street and Left Bank Road should provide a landmark of some sort, so whether that is built for public art or even a small public space’; tree cover; green spaces; and whether water sensitive urban design should be included.
Mayor Sarah Ndiaye told the meeting that Council had very encouraging meeting with Homes NSW, the NSW Reconstruction Authority and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council about the future of the site.
‘We have a really strong case,’ she told the meeting.
‘This is quite complex but very, very important,’ Dale Emerson from MRA reminded everyone that they are welcome to contact the MRA for support to understand the DCP and help get submissions in to Council.
‘This is public land that should stay in public hands. So we are asking the community to sign the petition, write submissions, grow the conversation,’ said Dale.
As the final audience member of the night who spoke said, ‘I think tonight has been a very good informative night, and I’m very thankful that I was able to get here. I think it’s been a fantastic explanation of everything.’
For more information contact the MRA at: [email protected] or https://mullumhospitalsite.good.do/keepitpublic/keepitpublic, or go to Byron Shire Council website: www.byron.nsw.gov.au.
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