Left to right: Cr Paul Spooner, Cr Jeannette Martin, Cr Cate Coorey, Cr Michael Lyon, Mayor Simon Richardson, Cr Sarah Ndiaye, Cr Alan Hunter, Cr Jan Hackett and Cr Basil Cameron
Story by Hans Lovejoy, Echonetdaily
Read Echonetdaily’s full story here
THE NEW Byron Shire Council class of 2016–20 took just five-and-a-half hours to get through their agenda last Thursday, with many unanimous votes taken accompanied by plenty of rhetorical flourish and some good questions of staff and each other.
Even the ideological odd man out – Cr Alan Hunter – appeared to get on board and voted for what he presumably wouldn’t have in the previous term (when he was in the majority).
One of those unanimous votes included Greens mayor Simon Richardson’s request to speed up a meeting with NSW planning minister Rob Stokes regarding the recently submitted Coastal Zone Management Plan, Byron Bay Embayment (CZMP BBE).
The contentious coastal policy was submitted with haste as the sun was setting on the previous council.