Media Release
9 April 2019
Member for Ballina Tamara Smith has welcomed the decision by the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) to unanimously refuse the proposed West Byron development application to subdivide 9 lots into 282 residential lots at Ewingsdale Rd and Melaleuca Drive, Byron Bay.
"This is another great win for our community and people power,” said Ms Smith.
“I congratulate the wider Byron community for working together to oppose over-development of a sensitive wetland. Submissions and actions by the community highlighting the fundamental flaws in developing this land have successfully culminated in the NRPP rejecting both subdivision plans - against the odds.
"With the rejection of both of the West Byron subdivision applications by the NRPP the developers should immediately approach the State government and request that they buy the land and restore it to the Cumbebin Swamp Nature Reserve.
"There is no social or environmental license for a subdivision of the swamp land known as West Byron, so why waste more money on legal battles when the community is utterly opposed?
“They need only look to Condon Hill at Lennox Head to see decades of proposed development on iconic land that has never passed muster. The West Byron landowners should jump at the chance to be bought out by the State government and walk away.
"My strong preference is for Byron Shire Council to shelve any idea of a reduced subdivision and instead I respectfully ask them to help me actually deliver what the community wants - No West Byron mega-development," said Ms Smith.