18.6 C
Byron Shire
November 9, 2026

The Saddle Road to become industrial precinct

Latest News

Green Heroes among 2026 NSW Environment Award winners

The NSW Environment Awards, hosted by the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation, Nature Conservation Council NSW, was recently held at Customs House in Sydney.

Other News

Work starts on eight-lane athletics track in Lismore

Construction has begun on an eight-lane athletics track at Southern Cross University’s Lismore campus, giving Northern Rivers schools and clubs a competition-standard venue closer to home when it opens in mid-2027.

Hold abusers to account equally

Izaac Lee Alford loves social media messages, and lives on his daddy’s cattle farm just out of Gympie, a lovely town where it only needs to sprinkle to be flooded. It has also for many years been One Nation central...

Horse lovers say nup to Melbourne Cup

As more horses risk life and limb at The Melbourne Cup today, animal lovers are gathering at Flemington Racecourse and across the country to stand up for the victims of what has been described as an outdated and exploitative horseracing spectacle.

New approach needed for Northern Rivers public transport says Cadwallader

It is the age-old story – the lack of public transport across the Northern Rivers that leads to high car ownership and a failure of local and regional public transport infrastructure and use.

From Spinifex Country to Lismore for a $23,000 art prize

In Michelle Anderson’s Kanpala, circles of red, orange and yellow bring a place in Western Australia’s Spinifex Country into view. It’s a place she returns to often in paint: Kanpa, the Country where her grandmother was born.

National gun buyback scheme begins in NSW

The biggest gun buyback in 30 years began in NSW yesterday, with the first firearms set to be surrendered as part of the government’s commitment to reduce the number of guns in the community and help make NSW safer.

Drone shot of 66 The Saddle Road. Photo supplied.

A picturesque greenfield site in Brunswick Heads is a step closer to becoming a bustling industrial and employment precinct with the submission of a key development application in relation to the project.

The sloping rural site at 66 The Saddle Road will have a combination of light industrial and live/work dwellings.

Earlier this month the developer behind the project – Gulgan Road Property Pty Ltd – submitted the first of many development applications (DAs). The DA is now open for public comment until Tuesday, August 5.

The application seeks consent for a five-lot subdivision covering a 52-hectare swathe of the site.

Four of the five lots will be set up for houses while the fifth will be for industrial uses.

Flood-prone lots

Each lot will have its own driveway accessing either The Saddle Road, Gulgan Road or both.
The Statement of Environmental Effects completed as part of the application indicates that three of the lots are either flood-prone or partly flood-prone. But this risk will apparently be ameliorated by strategic planning.

The consultants hired to undertake the assessment, Planners North, conclude that the development application was ‘permissible’ under current planning legislation.

‘In our opinion, the development can be seen to satisfy a legitimate need for subdivision and is capable of use in a manner that mitigates potential adverse impacts consistent with the zone objectives…’ the consultants stated.

‘The approval of the proposed development would be in the public interest.’
The plans are part of the broader project (as set out in an already-approved planning proposal) to create a business and industrial precinct at the site.

This would include a business park and a traditional industrial area, with some land designated for work/live dwellings.

This is, in turn, part of an even larger project known as the ‘Gulgan North (Area 5) project’ under Byron Shire Council’s Business and Industrial Lands Strategy.

This will see large parts of the entire The Saddle Road precinct developed for industrial and residential use.



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.

If you are a local business owner help us and in turn we help you. All The Echo asks for is advertising, not a free ride. It is every advert in The Echo and on www.echo.net.au, which creates the space for all the stories and coverage of community events, happenings and concerns.

If you are a reader you can become a sponsor of The Echo. Your support keeps the us independent.

Even a small one-off or regular donation from you will help keep the echo’s independent voice alive and strong.

Support Us

Become one of the supporters who helps keep independent, local journalism alive in the Byron Shire by contributing anything from as little as the cost of a coffee each month.

You're Wonderful, Thank you for supporting independent journalism in the Byron Shire

You’re supporting The Echo, thank you

Your contribution is keeping independent, local journalism alive in the Northern Rivers.

Because of supporters like you, we can keep every story free for everyone — no paywall, no exceptions. Your money goes directly to funding our newsroom of 40-odd local workers covering the stories that matter to this community.

Tell us what you think, give us your opinion

The Echo loves your letters and comments and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people of the NSW north coast. So don’t be a passive reader, email us your epistles at editor@echo.net.au.

The letters deadline for The Echo is noon Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. The publication of letters is at the discretion of the letters editor. Please remember to include your full name, address and telephone number.

Online comments are no longer available.

Remembrance Day 2026: 11am, 11 November

It is estimated that in WWl there were 20 million dead and 20 million injured. From a population base of fewer than five million,...

Love books? Join Friends of the Library

Friends of the Libraries, Byron Shire are looking for some fresh, new, younger faces to join the group and help keep it moving forward.

Racehorses shot for pet food by NSW breeder

Thirteen thoroughbred horses deemed no longer useful, have been destroyed with eight horses destroyed by firearm at Berkeley Park Stud.

Byron Bay Surf Lifesaving Club youngsters shine

Two young members of Byron Bay Surf Lifesaving Club have delivered outstanding performances at the Paddle NSW State Sprint Championships, held at the Penrith International Regatta Centre over the weekend.