THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 29 #45 Wednesday, April 22, 2015 www.echo.net.au Phone 02 6684 1777 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
Inside this week
CAB AUDIT
Autumn’s Here!
page 16
S O C I E T Y H A S B E C O M E S O FA K E T H AT IT BOTHERS SOME PEOPLE
The Echo’s editor Mandy pops Coping with All the gigs What have the out another a trek across in the Shire berated by colonies ever done – p25 for us? Mungo – p8 Cr Ibrahim – p7 book – p7 Mongolia – p23
Intergalactic wrangler
One hundred years on – where to be on Anzac day For local Anzac services, the following Byron Shire towns will be holding events on Saturday April 25.
At around 6am a barbecue breakfast will be served for any service or ex-service persons ($10 donation).
Brunswick Heads Mullumbimby 4.50am: Marchers assemble at Clubrooms in Fawcett Street for 5am march to Cenotaph for dawn service. Choir of Ocean Shores Public School will lead the hymns and national anthem during service. WWI Tiger Moths will fly over in tribute at end of service. A parade will follow through the streets before returning to the RSL clubrooms.
4.30am: Dawn service at the Cenotaph opposite the Ex-Services Club. This will be followed by breakfast at the Club. A flyover will occur at 10.20am. The mid morning march will leave at 10.50am from Apex Park. A civic service and lunch follows directly after the march.
Bangalow 10.45am: March from Railway
Park, Bangalow. The Wreath laying ceremony and presentation is at the RSL Hall, Station Street, followed by a service and lunch in the hall.
Byron Bay 5.30am: Dawn service commences at Memorial Gates in Tennyson Street. March from Bay Street at 10.15am, assemble for march to Memorial Gates at 10.30am. Wet weather, assemble at Scout Hall. Afterward luncheon to be served at 12.30pm at the Byron Bay Services Club for all service personnel. Q From www.byron.nsw.gov.au
Pages 36–37
Byron Council wins landmark court case against developer Hans Lovejoy
Three new Space Cowboy shows are heading to Byron Bay’s Community Centre Theatre. Known worldwide as an extreme performance artist, Mr Cowboy specialises in feats of the mind and body. He is appearing April 25 from 7pm, with two shows on May 3 – 3.30pm and 7pm. Call 6685 6807 or visit www.byroncentre.com.au for bookings. For more info visit www.thespacecowboy.com. Photo Jeff ‘Spaced Out Buckaroo’ Dawson
Byron Shire Council Notices
Should councils be responsible for a developer’s loss of expected earnings if their development application (DA) is rejected? In what appears to be a precedent for the nation, leave to appeal to the High Court has been refused, upholding the right of councils to reject such claims. According to Findlaw’s legal service report, it’s good news for councils around the country, ‘because it confirms that when councils are exercising statutory functions, such powers are unaffected by a duty owed to private interests, including those of developers.’
Staff advise appeal avenues exhausted A recent memo to councillors from senior staff reads, ‘The claim against Council by Dansar Pty Ltd (Mr and Mrs Vaughan) is now over as all avenues for appeal have been exhausted. The claimant will be liable to pay the council’s (Council’s insurer’s) costs of the High Court as well as all prior proceedings.’ Mr and Mrs Vaughan are two of a handful of Belongil residents who Cr Sol Ibrahim says will fund rockwall structures to protect their homes. The Echo understands that a previous council erected rockwalls in front of Vaughan’s property, which created a legal liability requiring them to be maintained. However, the unrelated neg-
ligence claim by the Vaughan’s against Council goes back to the period of the sewer moratorium from 1997 to 2006. At the time, development required ‘prior adequate arrangement’ owing to a lack of Council facilities to cope with human waste. The applicant’s claim arose from the council’s failure to properly manage the council’s development application process due to the council’s sewerage system nearing capacity, which resulted in the development application initially being rejected. According to special counsel Karen Browne and law graduate Andrew Clements, ‘In 1997, Council resolved to limit the number of new developments approved in the area due to the limited capacity of its two sewerage treatment plants.’ ‘The council’s planning controls prevented it from approving development applications unless the Council was satisfied that prior adequate arrangements had been made for the provision of sewerage services to the land proposed to be developed. ‘In 2001, Dansar Pty Ltd (the developer) applied to the council for development approval to carry out a residential development. At the time of application, there was sufficient capacity in the sewerage system for the development. However, the council failed to correctly calculate the capacity of the sewerage system, which resulted in the developer’s application initially being rejected. continued on page 2
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