North Byron Parklands - Cultural Events Site

The North Byron Bay Parklands play an important cultural role in being
the location of numerous music and arts festivals. The venue is
perfect for the large number of festival patrons with great facilities
and is large enough to accommodate various market stalls, stages, food
trucks, bars and merchandise tents all which generate great exposure
for various companies and businesses, artists, musicians and clothing
labels. It also boosts local businesses in Byron as many festivals
patrons often visit the local stores, cafes and restaurants. I do hope
that the North Byron Parklands continues to be home to future
festivals because as you can see, it plays a pivotal cultural and
economic role.

North Byron Parklands is such a great venue for arts and culture events

I have attended the splendour in the grass festival on four seperate
occasions whilst it has been held at North Byron Parklands. The fact
that the festival is set in the natural environment makes the whole
atmosphere more inviting and welcoming. I appreciate the effort that
is taken to preserve the environment and not waste resources
throughout the festival.

My name is Donna Hingston. I am in full support of North Byron Parklands
being a permanent site for music and cultural festivals. I live
locally in South Golden Beach. I have attended both Falls Festival on
one occasion in 2015 and Splendour in The Grass in 2017 with my
husband and two small children aged 1 year and 2 years old. I support
North Byron Parklands as a permanent festival site because I believe
access to music, arts and culture is a vital building block for
healthy communities. Exposure to music and art can act as a source of
confidence, self-expression and inspiration, particularly for young
adults. Economically it provides vital short and long term employment
opportunities for the local community and it is a major boost for
tourism. Of utmost importance to me is the safety of my children, my
family and my neighbours. I have not witnessed any antisocial
behaviour during any of the festival periods including drug use,
violence, crime of any kind or dangerous driving. During festival
times I enjoy the visitors to our community who are generally in good
spirits and respectful. It is an opportunity to share this beautiful
part of the world with festival visitors.

As a resident of the South Golden Beach community, I fully support making
North Byron Parklands a permanent festival site and a site for ongoing
smaller events. Our family is proud to be a part of a community that
supports the arts and music. We welcome the inspiration to our
children that comes with having these world-class artists perform just
down the road. That said, I have some concerns about the increased
capacity to 50,000 patrons for SITG, and I hope that care is taken to
ensure that any capacity-related issues are identified before growth
is approved.

Not only have me and my family loved attending such amazing events at
this awesome sight, but it has even created employment opportunities
for copious amounts of my friends! I think the tourism and money that
attracts people each year is also so great for all the surrounding
towns! I couldn't ever imagine going anywhere else for a festival down
that way!

i support the decision to make north byron park lands a permanent
festival and event site.

I travel the world for work to many different countries and places
assisting vulnerable populations. Art, culture and entertainment are a
huge part of any community and bring together a variety of people from
different backgrounds and diversity. It is events like these that
benefit the local and wider community and enhance culture in our
societies today.

The site is crucial to the region, it provides opportunity and interests
for our youth, which to me is crucially important living in the
country, whilst placing minimal interruption on those who reside in
the region.

love the area - need stricter littering policies though. fine the people
ruining the area

I am in support of this application and feel that it brings a sense of
community, jobs and new money into the Shire. With people travelling
from all over to attend festivals at this site it will increase
funding within the community and work for locals. It also brings a
sense of joy and excitement that can be felt throughout the Northern
Rivers.

I have serious concerns regarding the proposed increase to the number of
festival days per year to (at least) 13 and the maximum daily
attendance from 35,000 to 50,000 (or more) for some festivals. Two
five day festivals of 50,000, at that site, would push our
infrastructure and our community to breaking point, let alone adding
in the extra planned events. I also have serious concerns that the
authority for this site will not be local - i.e. not with Byron Shire
Council. An independent cost benefit analysis must be commissioned. To
date, this has not been actioned. All that has occurred is an Economic
Benefits Report generated by a Parklands paid consultant. The report
is presented "without the assumption of a duty of care to any other
person other than the client (Parklands)" and cautions any third party
from "using or relying on the facts, content, opinions or subject
matter" ... we live here ... what about our community?!?! I live in
this part of the world for its peace and quiet, its cleanliness, its
pristine beaches, its community, its value by UNESCO and for peace of
mind. I also live in this part of the world knowing that the
occasional multi-(3) day festival currently occurs at North Byron
Parklands. The current festivals already create extra load and stress
on our infrastructure from the increased number of cars, trucks,
camper vans ... etc. ... traffic jams! ... here!! ... at Shara
Boulevard and Brunswick Valley Way (during recent Splendour and Falls
festivals). Anti social behaviour increases during festivals. The
amount of rubbish on our footpaths, beaches and waterways increases.
Our shire already does not earn enough from the festivals to
compensate for this. For us, when the wind is from the north, the
noise from the festival can be objectionable. Having said that, a few
festival days per year is a part of this region ... but the proposed
increase is unconscionable. I do object to the proposed increase to
more than 10 event days per year. I do object to the proposed increase
to the maximum daily attendance to more than 35,000. I strongly object
to the proposal that authority over the site be given to other than
our community representatives - i.e. Byron Shire Council. This site
should not be a State Significant Development. This site should not be
controlled by the NSW Department of Planning. Oversight for all things
associated the North Byron Parklands must reside locally with the
Byron Shire Council. North Byron Parklands should be controlled by
Byron Shire Council. (The other festival site in the shire (BluesFest)
is accountable to the local community). We residents should not have
to pay for the privilege of the festivals being conducted by increases
to our rates. I strongly recommend that all festival attendees pay a
minimum of $5.00 per day levy to be provided directly to Byron Shire
Council to address the extra stress put on our community,
infrastructure ...etc. The levy is a very small percentage of a
festival ticket, but collectively, could significantly address the
expenses currently being borne by the community.

The Byron Parklands has hosted numerous musical festival events which
Slumberjack have had the honour of performing at. Notably; Splendour
in the Grass, a hugely important cornerstone event in the Australian
musical landscape which, from my experience touring, is highly
regarded globally. Falls Festival, which hosts its Byron leg at the
Byron Parklands is another example of a fantastic Australian festival
which is vital in exposing Aussie artists to thousands of fans and
building a culture and following around Australian home grown music
and arts. Of course, these festivals need a home and the Byron
Parklands has been a phenomenal location thus far - both for its
acoustics and pristine setting. Nestled in amongst the classic Aussie
bushland and close to the beachfront, it's the perfect home for
brewing and celebrating Australian music as well as showing off our
beautiful country to the international guests we host during the
year's events.

The annual events have been amazing and extremely well run bringing so
many young people to Byron Bay and adding to Byrons International
cultural reputation. The organisers have been on going supporters of
our club financially which has helped us with our Junior training and
running costs.

Waterlily Playscape committee would like to acknowledge North Byron
Parklands' contribution to our local project and through that, to the
wider community of Ocean Shores and North Byron Shire. North Byron
Parklands were the first organisation to support Waterlily Playscape
when donating $15000. This enabled launching the Waterlily project by
sponsoring community consultations and professional design plans for
the park, and set a great example for other local organisations to
express their support. Nowadays, Waterlily Playscape is a vibrant
community space and Splendour played a pivotal role in realising this
vision. For this contribution, Splendour in the Grass is recognised as
a Gold Sponsor of Waterlily Playscape. As a local organisation
depending on grants, we recognise the need for sponsors to progress
local initiatives. North Byron Parklands proved their actual and
persistent commitment to local community projects. We support this
approach and realise that more future activities at North Byron
Parklands property will result in more support to local organisations.

North Byron Parklands is a great space for cultural events in the area.
Hope it can continue!

We feel The North Byron Parklands needs to remain permanently in order to
ensure the permanence of festivals like Splendour In The Grass and
Falls Festival. These festivals are one of the biggest contributors to
the music and creative industries' economy. They are also integral to
building the culture of live music and arts in Australia.

I support North Byron Parklands to become a permanent home for Splendour
in the Grass and the Falls festival along with smaller music, cultural
and community events. I am a local resident living in close proximity
to the site and we have always been treated with respect and courtesy.
I don't feel that any of the events impact me or my family and
neighbours negatively, in fact I feel they bring the opposite.

I have been a resident of Pottsville for seven years, in that time this
site has been developed and events held. In the early years there were
some hiccups, however these have been ironed out. Now the residents of
Pottsville hardy know an event is being held. These events provide
jobs and business opportunities for the local area. The Tweed and
Byron Shire rely on tourism as one of their economic basis. Continuous
develop and the staging of events supports our economic basis. We need
jobs, we need this develop with the right environmental and social
conditions. The Tweed and Byron have some of the highest unemployment
rates for NSW. I fully support this application.

North Byron Parklands brings immense opportunity to various stakeholder
groups in the Byron shire and surrounds. The site has proven to have
various, successful sustainability measures in place with green
projects increasing every year. The Parklands is home to a number of
amazing events which creates an everlasting positive social, economic
and cultural impact to the local community.