While NSW government departments and Liberal/National politicians distance themselves from taking any responsibility on holiday letting (see news, page 3), where exactly will tourist and visitor accommodation be permitted in Council’s new planning document, the draft 2012 LEP (local environment plan)?
Taking Byron Bay’s existing business and residential areas, the town has been zoned broadly into R2 (low-density residential), a little of R3 (medium-density residential) and B2 (local centre). Zone B2 (local centre) is the only zone that permits all forms of ‘tourist and visitor accommodation’ with consent and predictably covers Byron’s CBD. But that’s a small area; zone R2 (low-density residential) covers much of Byron’s residential areas, including Wategos, and lists ‘tourist and visitor accommodation’ as prohibited but ‘bed & breakfast accommodation’ and ‘boarding houses’ as permitted with consent. Zone R3 (medium density residential) is similar to R2 in this regard, with exception that R3 also permits ‘serviced apartments’, Council may say what they consider is illegal through LEP ‘provisions’; however, any authority it has is being undermined by those who holiday let in non-holiday-let zones. Will this new LEP provide any more certainty? It will if Council bothers to uphold it in the courts – otherwise why not drop the charade? Residents don’t have to wait around for councils, however. In a case brought to the Land and Environment Court over a holiday letting at Terrigal, the Dobrohotoff family, fed up with disruptive short-term neighbours, had a win despite the reluctance of the Gosford council to prosecute. If our council continues to dither with ‘consultation’ when it’s action against illegal letting that is needed, then it can’t be too surprised if residents see the courts as a source of more reliable justice.
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A prospecting application by the Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) is on public submission with the intention to frack ‘n mine most of NSW.
This can be viewed in a variety of ways. Here are just two: Red pill The push behind applying for five prospecting mining rights across NSW is to end Aboriginal poverty, NSWALC CEO Geoff Scott said in a release on November 6. ‘We owe it to ourselves, and to future generations of Aboriginal people... We can sit on the sidelines or we can take an active role to become part of the real Australian economy.’ He’s correct to say the real economy is mining. According to an article on www.asx.com.au, Top 10 ways to profit from mining boom, ‘Almost 90 per cent of last year’s 96 initial public offerings (IPOs) were resource-related companies and the top performers gave shareholders well over 500 per cent returns.’ Author Toni Case (TheBull.com.au) continues, ‘In fact, the entire materials sector has been a standout performer, with an annualised return of 10.99 per cent to 31 March 2011.’ And the future looks to be still powered by coal or gas, with the claim that ‘The Federal Treasury believes the mining boom could have another 15 years to go; demand from China and India shows no sign of slowing.’ Thankfully, this is a free country. Mr Scott is entitled to pursue whatever means neccessary to ensure the future prosperity for the future generations of Aboriginal people. Blue pill You have to wonder who will benefit from the Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC)’s plans to mine ‘n’ frack the state of NSW, because it will not be the wider Aboriginal community. Locally, the traditional Aboriginal custodians of this region, the Arakwal people of Byron Bay, have said they do not want CSG or mining in this region and have distanced themselves from the NSWALC. What isn’t addressed in NSWALC CEO Geoff Scott’s PR is that his organisation is already self-funding, was set up by the government, and earns income from its investments. This is not about poverty, it’s about greed. The real benefactors of this will of course be the overseas mining corporations who are nervously watching the public-awareness campaign on CSG grow. Public submissions on this prospecting application end on December 5, so get in fast. Visit www.resources.nsw.gov.au for more. Environmental worriers and warriors have been critical of the NSW government’s Green Paper so far, which aims to overhaul town, rural and city planning.
But let’s just pause and look at the state government’s own propaganda. Its website’s statements include ‘promoting a “can do” culture’ and ‘reducing red tape and delay’... and so on. Despite the motherhood claims of transparency and efficiency, it also claims to have ‘community consultation at the forefront of planning decisions’. And the 30-year-old planning document needs to be revised, according to www.planning.nsw.gov.au, as the ‘legislation has been modified over 150 times’. Okay, fair enough. But here’s what the paper says about streamlining development: ‘To depoliticise decision making, it is proposed that development applications be streamed to appropriate independent and expert decision makers. State and regional scale development will be assessed by the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) and the Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP). One option being considered by the NSW government is for local level development applications to be considered by an independent expert panel... There will be targets set for timeframes for different types of assessment and the achievement of these targets will be monitored and reported, with implications for poor or inefficient decision making.’ The state government is disingenuous to say that community consultation will be at the forefront of planning decisions. Its stated aims are to take away a community’s right to decide state and regional scale development. Despite public feedback being now closed, NSW councils have their chance to have input until October 5. Hopefully councils across the state will apply what little wedge they can to resist innapropriate developments that the state plans to enforce in the name of economic rationalism. |
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