Byron Residents’ Group, as part of the Community Alliance for Byron Shire, invites you to a forum to examine how Byron grows into the future. CABS has invited University of Sydney’s Professor Nicole Gurran to present to the forum. Professor Gurran is an expert in urban planning systems and approaches to housing and ecological sustainability.
Also presenting, albeit remotely, will be Trish Burt, convenor of ‘Neighbours Not Strangers’, a group advocating for residents’ rights in the face of Air BnB and similar platforms.
“CABS is honoured that Professor Gurran and Ms Burt have accepted our invitation to speak at the forum,” says Matthew O’Reilly, President of CABS.
“CABS has invited Council staff to the forum to help navigate what informs the Draft Residential Strategy and how it is formulated. Together with the Draft Byron Employment Land Strategy, and the Rural Land Use Strategy, the Residential Strategy will set the scene for development in the Shire for the next ten to twenty years.
“There will also be fantastic local speakers who have a history and background with growth issues in Byron – including Dailan Pugh, AO, conservationist and artist.
“The forum will aim to look at the data and interrogate a few issues – such as how much are we growing, how much is too much and where should we grow? We will also consider the likely impact of the new proposed legislation on Air BnB and similar platforms and what we can do to mitigate or push back.
“CABS continues to receive feedback from its member organisations and Byron Shire ratepayers that excessive development is undermining the spirit and integrity of the Byron community”
“A one size fits all approach to planning – as advocated by the NSW State Government – is not workable in coastal, village-based communities such as Byron Shire
“If we don’t get the community’s values, priorities and vision properly embedded in the planning framework we risk Byron becoming just another Tweed Heads, Ballina or the Gold Coast”
“How we house the less well-off members of our community in the face of Air BnB, soaring rents and property prices, and rampant tourism development is a wicked problem but if we fail Byron we will lose everything that makes our community so special”
Places are limited – book tickets here.
Byron Residents' Group 