Politics Causes Greens Split Over Byron Bay Bus Interchange at the Dump

Byron Bay market at Butler Street Reserve. Photo: EchoNet Daily.

IN A SAD display of lack of local knowledge, two Greens political factions have come to blows over moving the Byron bus stop to the Butler Street Reserve

Greens Ballina MP Tamara Smith claims there has been a ‘lack of public consultation’ regarding state government plans to place a bus interchange at the site of the Byron markets.

‘I am appalled that our iconic market space in Butler Street is being replaced with a giant bus interchange,” she said.

[xyz-ihs snippet=”Servo”]

She bangs on about it being an “iconic location”, obviously unaware that the location was once part of the town’s dump, and is now just about a metre of topsoil on top of radioactive tailings.

She misses how macabre it is to run an “organic” Farmers Market on a location that is barely a metre away from radioactive soil which was once such a dreadful problem in the 1970s, threatening the hospital, school, homes and other public buildings.

[xyz-ihs snippet=”SMC01″]

‘It is up to the community and Byron Shire Council to tell government where the best location for a bus interchange is and that process of consultation simply has not occurred,’ Ms Smith said.

But Byron Shire Council’s Greens mayor Simon Richardson says there has been plenty of consultation and adds the markets are ‘iconic’ despite – rather than because of – their location.

Mayor Richardson said the relocation of the terminal was a key plank of the Byron Bay Masterplan, which is focussed on removing buses and heavy vehicles from Jonson Street.

And Mayor Richardson is right.

While there are still many aspects of the Masterplan locals disagree, the Plan is dead right on this issue.


`echonetdaily

Story by Echonetdaily

Read Echonetdaily’s full story here

 

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Robyne Stone

    This site is very sacred to the original people who know all our sites that will be shown to not only the council but the media as well we are sick of Byron Bay Council and people ripping up our sites to make money like cementing in our midden at the pass removing our great grandfather’s grave to put in a pool for a resort and many more

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.