Sunlight sparkles on the sea, where lazy swells gather momentum to form perfect waves before playing out onto the deserted shore.

Billed as the 'longest running event on the Australian surfing calendar', the Thermos Australian Longboard Titles will return for a third consecutive year to Tweed Coast beaches 24-30 July.

With a government agency now investigating the alleged clear felling of natives on a large private block in Lennox Head, Ballina Greens councillor Kiri Dicker has told The Echo that contractors were felling trees all morning, ‘trying to get the job done’.

New flood mapping covering much of the Byron Shire could affect future development controls, with a major new study recommending that planning decisions be based on whichever flood source – river flooding or overland flow – produces the highest flood level.