The community has fought hard for the Mullumbimby Hospital site to be retained for a mix of public, social, affordable, and mixed use housing, in perpetuity, since they created the Mullumbimby Hospital Action Group (MHAG), marched on the streets, volunteered for multiple community consultation groups, and more.
When Council staff recommended that the site be sold to developers the community responded calling for the site to provide local housing.
The draft Development Control Plan (DCP) is now on exhibition and at https://yoursay.byron.nsw.gov.au/dcp-mullum-hospital and the community can now respond.
Mullumbimby Residents Association (MRA) have told The Echo that while there are some positive steps forward in the process, there are still significant gaps and failures in the current exhibition and process by Council.
‘Once again the community are being informed and consulted; the community would like to be involved and even collaborate with the BSC,’ President of MRA, Dale Emerson, told The Echo.
‘There is no clear process to identify how input will be heard, what BSC has taken on board or not taken on board, and why? There is no feedback loop, no commitment to explain decisions and gaps in relation to the DCP itself. This is not the gold standard.’
Of particular concern is the 20 per cent affordable housing requirement that does not address social and public housing options and is significantly lower than that called for by many in the community. Added to this is no clear and enforceable, prescriptive measures around maintaining the majority of land in perpetuity for social, public, and affordable housing and no enforceable provisions around income eligibility and tenure.
‘The DCP, the Reference Scheme, and the EOI process that follow this exhibition will determine [if it]delivers the living village the community was promised – or whether it delivers a standard residential subdivision,’ said the MRA in their draft submission they are preparing to submit to Council on the DCP.
BSC drop-in session on Monday, 20 and Tuesday, 21 April at Council offices, Mullumbimby.
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