At its last meeting, Ballina Shire Council narrowly decided to leave the door open for future urban development on several large areas of land between Lennox Head and Tintenbar. The contentious sites are North Kinvara (CURA B), CURA C and West Lennox Palms.

There were some positive outcomes from Ballina Shire Council's latest meeting, with a new partnership endorsed with the Jali Aboriginal Land Council, majority approval of a motion to oppose the NSW government's environmental planning and assessment reforms, support for a new community preschool next to the fire station in Lennox Head, and new impetus towards phasing out 4WDs on Seven Mile Beach, with a 50 per cent increase in vehicles on the beach in the last three years.

Ballina Shire Council's conservative majority got its way with several contentious issues at its last meeting.

At its last meeting, Ballina Shire Council adopted the new streetscape master plan for Newrybar, decided ratepayers should pay for councillors' alcoholic beverages at Council events, and endorsed the independent review into the DA processing system. Council also agreed to move and upgrade Ballina's SES building, which will destroy a number of significant trees.

Ballina Shire Council has a busy agenda for its June meeting, including a number of notices of motion brought by councillors.

Council elections are rapidly approaching, but many of those seeking election in Ballina are still a mystery to potential voters. The Echo has been trying to find out what makes the latest batch of candidates tick, beyond the statements in their PR material.

At the eleventh hour, Ballina Shire Council has voted to press pause on the controversial Sharpes Beach car park redevelopment, and seek further options.

A proposal to assess the viability of a third village on the Alstonville Plateau was discussed at Ballina Shire Council's last meeting.

The last Ballina Council meeting saw a straightforward request from staff for more information about the short term rental accommodation situation in the shire (as it relates to NSW government policy) turn into an elaborate saga.

Most people in Ballina have heard of Florence Wigmore, who later became Florence Price. When she died in 1964, aged 82, she left a large amount of property to Ballina Shire Council, which has since cushioned the council's finances, and explains why Florence's name appears all over Ballina. Now there's a question mark hanging over one of her former properties.