Mod 4 - Extend Trial

Events at this venue have been well managed over the past 4 years and generate significant employment opportunities for local people. The modification does not seek to increase patron numbers or event days and should be approved.

My dad works for Parklands and this is how he pays for our family to live here. I don't want to change school if my dad loses his job.

The North Byron Parklands are a valuable asset to our community. The patrons they bring cause no trouble and bring valuable sales to my business. I have attended these events as both a vendor and a ticket holder and they are well run and environmentally responsible.

I object to the extension
* the trial period has not finished, there needs to be a thorough evaluation of this trial before an extension is granted
* the Police Tweed Area Commander Starling has recently reported serious concerns regarding: evacuation in the case of fire, flood, terrorism with limited exits. also traffic management and drug and alcohol use.
* there has been no independent credible assessment of the impact on the Billinudgel Nature Reserve.
* there has been a major loss of amenity for the community: noise, pollution, traffic and impact on infrastructure including roads and facilities

I support the extension to the trial period for events at north byron parklands.
Catering at events on this site represents a significant proportion of my yearly income .
NBP needs an extension on the temporary permit in order to have time to address a comprehensive list of assessment criteria and get permanent approval to run these events as well as a number of small community events.
If they are successful my familys' financial security will be greatly benifitted.
yours sincerely mark inch.

Mr Matt Morris Wednesday 1 March 2017
General Manager
North Byron Parklands
PO Box 517
Bangalow NSW 2479
E: [email protected]

Dear Mr Morris

RE: Community Support for North Byron Parklands

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the North Byron Parklands Permanency Development Application.

Burringbar is around 10 kilometres from the Parklands site, we anticipate more local businesses will emerge to service a growing demand for tourists, including cafes, restaurants and small scale accommodation.

We expect the Tweed and Byron Shire Councils will work to maintain a balance between servicing the needs of local residents and visitors. Specifically, we refer to priority road maintenance and the promotion and ongoing commitment to low impact eco- tourism in the region.

The Burringbar Community Association Inc., are very interested in learning about and understanding the ramifications of your application for permanency. Having the Parklands in such close proximity to our village, we do recognise the positive contribution the Parklands management and festival organisers have made to the surrounding community over the past several years.

We invite a representative from the North Byron Parklands to address our members and residents of the district. Meetings are held at the Burringbar Sports Club at 7pm on the second Tuesday of each month.

We provide the following summary of comments for consideration:

Impacts
Possible Beneficial Outcomes
Illegal campers in the vicinity of Burringbar Development of more eco-friendly accommodation, cultural and nature based activities in the hinterland areas
Rubbish at local swimming hole, Burringbar Creek preventing livestock from accessing water supply Bus route extension along Tweed Valley Way through Mooball-Burringbar-Stokers Siding-Murwillumbah during festival weeks
Increased traffic on local roads Potential reason to extend MRT line to tweed hinterland villages
Concern about festival usage of local water supplies in times of drought Use of Parklands by local community groups, not for profits and schools for community events outside of festival weeks
Parklands site has had substantial ecological rehabilitation of habitat
Increased trade during festival weeks
Investment in local area youth development and employment
The opportunity for community not for profits to participate at the festivals in a fundraising capacity
Employment at the festivals of local youth
The promotion of all our villages in appropriate marketing initiatives
An agreed number of free tickets to all festivals for the purpose of fundraising for not for profit associations.

Yours sincerely,

Sue Harnett
Secretary

disturbance of the village by people coming for the event and distributing our lifestyle the reason we came here 230 years ago

I think that these events are well run, and as a cultural event it is something that our youth need.

I'd like the events to continue into the future.

I support the application.

I am in support of the trial extension period for North Byron Shire Parklands. This is a hugely important venue for our regional area, creating many jobs and supporting many local families.

I oppose the extension to the current trial period on the following grounds:
the applicant has completed 4 years of the trial period originally approved and has failed to address noise pollution issues and traffic management. Contribution towards a roundabout on Brunswick Valley way does not remove the responsibility of effective traffic management for the local community. This roundabout has increased issues for local people heading north unable to turn left as there is a constant uninterrupted stream of traffic turning right onto the highway. The local community of approx. 6000 people is already drowning under the burden of tourism with very few facilities and poor road conditions which local rate payers are expected to fund repair and building of. Limited parking and local shopping facilities are swamped by the influx of festival patrons many times during the year already with 2 major festival sites and many smaller venues operating in the area.
Local healthcare services, already grossly underfunded and understaffed are pushed to the limits by the 35,000 + festival patrons placing additional burden on the healthcare system. The region already has far less GP per head of population than the state average (77.4/100,000 compared with 135/100,000). I required an ambulance myself during the most recent Splendour festival and was required to wait at Byron hospital for a number of hours to be transported to Tweed hospital for emergency surgery as the local ambulances were tied up "dealing with drug OD's". Local police have voiced their concern regarding the stress on their resources with the current number of both festivals and patronage levels and have stated they would be unable to evacuate the site in the case of emergency in under 8 hours!
No studies have yet been performed on the impact of the noise pollution and human presence on the local wildlife.
Byron Shire currently has many festivals operating during the year already. The loss of amenity, peace and quiet in our homes during many of these festivals is significant. You try sleeping whilst the windows of your house vibrate with the music coming from the splendour festival for 4 nights until 3am of later and see how well you and your family operate, driving to work which is already a 45 minute journey only to be stuck in a traffic jam of patrons coming/ leaving the North Byron parklands Site for hours and then having the local council slug ratepayers with a huge rate rise to pay for tourist infrastructure and repairs which are primarily utilised by festival goers. Perhaps if the festival operators were charged a significant amount to be put towards local amenities local ratepayers would not be so opposed. A donation of a few thousand dollars does not ameliorate the loss of amenity, perhaps a couple of million each year, out of their massive profits (35,000 patrons at approx. $500 per ticket is a large profit) would. These festivals do not even provide jobs for local people in a region of known high levels of unemployment as they do not actually pay wages but rather give "free tickets" in exchange for labour.
Camping is encouraged on site but there are ongoing issues of illegal camping by festival patrons which has not begun to be addressed.

I support the North Byron Parklands submission to extend the trial period for the site for another 20 months to allow this extra time for finalising their submission. Both Falls and Splendour are massive drawcards to the Nth Rivers region and bring tourist dollars and therefore jobs to the area. Without these festivals many local people - stall holders, suppliers and contractors - would lose their source if income.

To whom it may concern,

North Byron Parklands is an important economic, social and cultural element of Byron Shires unique community fabric. The absence of this event to Woodford caused significant disruption to the Byron community. I understand that the applicant has achieved a high level of compliance with its trial conditions. Accordingly, it would seem entirely appropriate that if the prospect of permanent approval, at least on the existing conditions, is probable on account of this compliance, an extension would be fair, just and equitable.

North Byron Parklands and its events are considered sustainable and are welcomed by the overwhelming majority of residents in the Shire.

Yours sincerely,

Adrian Kennedy

I do not wish for this group to conduct events. We were there this new year and it was the worst festival, badly managed (rude staff), safety standards were not met. Everything they promised was done really late. Run out of free water and had to wait for it in the middle of the event.

I support this application

We need to continue the support of our local talent as well as the creatives that produce such events at Parklands. The loss of such a site will be a huge loss to the local community in more ways than one.

I support the extension of the trial period because the minimal number of events held at this site provides many employment opportunities to residents of Byron Shire. These events also draw a large number of people to the Shire who contribute to the tourist economy of the region.

My Name is Karl Cooney and I am a resident of Suffolk Park. I am also the operator of a food truck. I'd like to support the application for Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival to continue at North Byron Parklands. We have participated as a food vendor at the event on 3 occasions and found it to be a success. It is a great stimulation to the local economy and gives a bit of extra work to local residents in need. I know Suffolk Park is not directly in the vicinity of the event but other than an increase in traffic, we have never been adversely affected by the event.

I support the proposed extension of the trial period for outdoor events at Parklands by a further 20 months to August 2019. This extension gives local workers involved in the events the ability to continue to earn vital income.