SSD/HDA update from the Council Meeting Oct 15
In response to a Motion and Council Report on the implications of State Significant Developments /Housing Delivery Authority pathways Byron Shire Council (BSC) is writing to the Minister for Planning.
BSC supports a number of People of Byron proposals including a pause and review of SSD/HDA proposals, cumulative impacts assessments and more …
Read the full Report from Council
Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
We thank Council staff for the Report, and Councillors for the motion and to the mayor for being a strong advocate for local planning controls.
At the recent Byron Writers Festival, former NSW Premier Bob Carr was interviewed by the Mayor Sarah Ndiaye and he recalled that developers, “were weeping into their beers" after locking in a Local Environmental Plan (LEP) that ruled out high-rise development in Byron.
Fast-forward to 2026, and it seems the tables may have turned. With state planning pathways opening the door to developments that would once have been ruled out under local planning controls, perhaps the developers are now the ones raising a glass — while Byron's community is left wondering what happened to the planning protections it fought so hard to secure.
RIGHT NOW, we need to protect this place more than ever.
If the State Govt imposes 21-metre buildings today, what is coming next? The implications and threat to Byron’s character and built environment is real but it—but it won’t stop there. Bruns could well be next.
We urge Councillors and Council to fight hard for our LEP & the recommendations in the Report— which respect the contextual, local and environmental constraints of this place, and has preserved a low-rise coastal town up until now.
TODAY if you drive into Byron from the North, you are still greeted by an avenue of pine trees, signalling a coastal town, a mix of low-scale housing and accommodation until you get to the new development EADE. The scale, bulk and density of this development and building is out of context with its surrounds. THIS IS OUR FUTURE.
Byron Bay will be bookended by 15 and 16 metre buildings one at the Swell Hotel and another one at the old Mitre 10 site—a taller and larger development than Eade, and in the centre of town the pièce de résistance a 21-metre building is proposed.
The expiated pathway of State Significant Developments and Housing Delivery Authority proposals expose an imbalance of benefit to the developer on the promise of a small amount of affordable housing meanwhile the community and the Council are locked out of decisions that shape the very town and region in which we live. West Byron is a State Significant Development, and I think it’s fair to speculate that it has not been a successful outcome for the developer nor the town.
We should demand better from governments regardless of political persuasion—the Planning Minister needs to be talking to the Tourism Minister and other Destination bodies about the potential economic impacts this change will have on Byron Bay, a place that is promoted both globally and locally on its low-rise coastal vibe and incredible natural environment.
The community is with you all the way on this one. Thank you.
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