Hans Lovejoy, editor
Almost every Council meeting throws up hard decisions that must be courageously tackled, such as resolving competing community uses of public land.
At last Thursday’s Council meeting, councillors voted to proceed with plans for a pump track, or a BMX track, at the Linda Vidler Memorial Parklands, located in Suffolk Park.
Yet the chamber heard the decision comes without an adopted masterplan for the area, although a plan of management (PoM) was in place.
The chamber also heard additional drainage and infill works were also needed, no matter what occurs on the site.
The community gardens, which is also located in the park, said they were against, while the local soccer club were also vying for use. The associated staff report for the project said ‘conflicting demands’ for the space also included Arakwal interests.
Rob Blanch, Bogangar
It was with great disappointment that I read the last column submitted by Mungo in a recent edition of
The Echo but it was with extreme sadness that I learned a few days later of his unfortunate death.
Although I do not live in Byron Shire I am an avid reader of
The Echo. I particularly enjoy reading Hans Lovejoy’s Comment, Letters, Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox and Backlash, but the part that I always enjoyed the most was Mungo’s column.
Mungo was a very talented journalist with many skills, but the skill that I admired the most was his ability to read between the lines and analyse what is really going on in Canberra, even from distant Ocean Shores.
It has been, in the words of one local, ‘great weather for ducks wearing helmets’.
As you’ve no doubt noticed, the Shire has copped a spanking from Mother Nature over the past three days.
We’ve had torrential rain, gale-force winds, and king tides that have ripped into Byron Bay’s already battered beaches.
Locals have witnessed large chunks of the dunes at Clarke’s Beach being washed into the sea, along with entire trees and temporary man made structures.
Some in low lying hinterland areas have been flooded in and some roads heading into low-lying towns like Mullumbimby are close to being inundated.
Hans Lovejoy
Independent councillor Basil Cameron is proposing at this Thursday’s meeting that councillors adopt a set of Road Access and Safety Principles, ‘to be embedded in all road policy to ensure safe, equitable access for all road users’.
He told
The Echo, ‘Despite a substantial increase of traffic on our rural roads, fundamental safety issues are being ignored.’ One of the many accidents that have taken place on Coolamon Scenic Drive. Photo supplied.
‘Recently a “road safety” audit was undertaken on Coolamon Scenic Drive for “vehicular” traffic only.
‘$2.4 million was spent on infrastructure upgrades as a result of the audit, even though it made the road less safe for walkers, cyclists and in some cases blocked access for residents and services such as rubbish collection and school buses’.
Showing at the Showgrounds!
Film lovers will flock to the Bangalow Showgrounds, and the A&I Hall, from January 14, as the village lights up for eight exciting days of films and events. And tickets are on sale now!
Opening with the not-to-be-missed drive-in screening of Fellini’s 1960 masterpiece,
La Dolce Vita, the program is jam-packed with films for everyone:
High Ground, starring Jack Thompson, Simon Baker and Jacob Junior Nayinggul is a Northern Rivers’ premiere. Shot in Kakadu National Park by Andrew Commis (
Babyteeth) and directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson
(Yolngu Boy), this is a great opportunity to preview the film before it hits our local screens.