On 27 February 2020 then Greens Mayor of Byron Shire Council (BSC) Simon Richardson put forward a mayoral minute for ‘Supporting Housing above Council Owned Carparks’.
It was proposed to look at above car park housing ‘for the housing needs of very low, low and moderate-income households, in dire short supply in Byron Shire … without decreasing the current number of available car parking spaces’ at a range of sites around Byron Shire.
The possible sites for investigation included ‘the Council administration building car park, the Cavanbah Centre, North and South Lawson St Byron Bay, and Station St Bangalow.’
This was proposed to be done in conjunction with a community housing provider (CHP) with an expression of interest put out by BSC in December 2020.
Six years later BSC has: no declared CHP partner, has selected the car park at 57 Station Street in Mullumbimby for their project against significant community opposition, have proposed eliminating the public parking at the site with no currently funded replacement for the car park or heritage toilet that will also be removed, have had Landcom do a development application (DA) which the community has pointed out enormous failures with, including not meeting their own planning guidelines.
The DA is currently on exhibition (www.byron.nsw.gov.au) until 16 August and the decision to approve or reject the DA will be made by the Northern Rivers Planning Panel (NRPP).
Conflict of interest
Former Mayor Richardson is currently a member of the NRPP and The Echo asked if Mr Richardson would be recusing (removing) himself from the panel when this DA comes before them due to the conflict of interest.
A conflict of interest exists ‘where a reasonable and informed person would perceive that you could be influenced by a private interest when carrying out your public duty,’ according to the NSW government Local Planning Panels Code of Conduct 2020, produced by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.
Responding to the email a spokesperson for the NRPP told The Echo that they had forwarded the question to Mr Richardson and that, ‘Under the Planning Panels Code of Conduct, the onus is on each panel member to identify conflicts of interest and take appropriate management measures.’
The Echo had received no response from Mr Richardson clarifying if he will recuse himself from the NRPP panel when it sits to decide the 57 Station Street car par DA at the time the paper went to print.
The Echo is one impacted business from this DA proposal.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
