North Byron Parklands - Cultural Events Site

I support the north Byron parklands expansion as a cultural events venue

I support the north Byron parklands expansion into a cultural events
venue

I support the expansion of the north Byron parklands to become a cultural
events venue

Both Festivals held at Byron Parklands have supported our community since
being established in Yelgun. They have provided tickets for
fundraising for local Nippers and schools. Being a local resident I
fully support the continuation of these festivals. Local businesses
benefit with the influx of tourism.

The north Byron Parklands site has been a welcome addition to our local
community over the years they have really improved their operations
and management... living in a neighbouring valley the impact on
traffic has been improving steadily each year... for the falls event
this year the traffic was affected so minimally I hardly noticed...
the sound impact from the event has been reduced a lot in my area as
well... I commend the management of both major events but I believe
the credit lies with the north Byron parklands in their attempts to
ease any major impact on the local community... I hope the site
remains open for many years to come...

I support North Byron Parklands as the permanent home of Splendour in the
Grass and Falls Festival. Splendour is the biggest and hottest music
festival in Australia and it would be an immense loss for the Byron
Bay community if it were forced to move. The site is more that capable
of handling 50,000+ people. I've attended Splendour in the Grass every
year since 2012, and I've seen and experienced first hand the
improvements to the site year on year. There have been significant
improvements with the self composting toilets, showers, as well as
traffic control - exiting and entering the festival. Splendour also
provides a huge job opportunities for the local and broader community.
I've volunteered and worked the bar at Splendour and Falls Festival -
thus providing me with employment. North Byron Parklands is an amazing
and unique site. There is no other site in Australia with it's natural
amphitheater, it is the best main stage in the country and it would be
a massive shame to see it gone.

As a resident & ratepayer in the closest town to the event site I have no
objections to the proposals. Any problems related to noise or traffic
during events seem to have been addressed. The events bring income to
the surrounding towns through accommodation, cafes & restaurants,
supermarkets etc as well as employment. As a resident I experience no
negative impact from the music events held at the site. From what I
have read the organisers have addressed environmental concerns re
waste, sanitation, looking after the environment of the site when it
is not being used for the events. I support this purpose built site
for large & small music events. It is more positive for the
environment & the surrounding community with organisers working within
guidelines & continually resolving any problems arising.

The Byron Bay Malibu Club would like to acknowledge the generous support
of North Byron Parklands over the past four years. They have donated a
double pass to Splendour in the Grass each year that we have then used
to help raise funds for local charities through our annual Byron Bay
Malibu Classic. The event has been running for 38 years and due to the
generous support of organisations such as North Byron Parklands have
been able to donate in excess of $275 000.00. Their ongoing support of
our event is greatly appreciated.

I am 51 years old and was born here and have also lived here all of my
life. I am extremely concerned and object to the increase in festival
patron numbers and days that North Byron Parklands are wishing to
proceed with. This would be a total invasion of our quiet little end
of Byron Shire. It is difficult enough now, especially with the Falls
Festival crossing over with the traditional family holidaymakers in
Brunswick Heads. The impact on our little town has caused huge changes
to our own lifestyle and quality time to enjoy our own town during the
Christmas/new year holidays. We now choose to stay at home...the
hordes of festival patrons exiting buses onto the footpaths, parks and
cafes ....no respect or care for locals residents as they push and
barge past, as they take up every blade of grass in our parks, as we
have to bypass café after café because the lines are too long. This is
not fair to locals at all. We have become suffocated by the sheer
numbers. Below are some important points in regards to how the
festivals actually affect real locals that live in the north of the
shire. * rubbish left on the side of the roads, toilet paper and
faeces in the dunes. * illegal camping in carpark and outside our
home. * illegal camping on our vacant block of land....rubbish and
damage left behind. * infrastructure burden.....our small base of
ratepayers can't possibly sustain the cost in maintaining our
infrastructure. As it is, the lack of maintenance and repairs by Byron
Shire Council before and during the festival was appalling. I have
never seen the edges of our locals roads with such long overgrown
grass, low hanging branches all obscuring vision to oncoming vehicles.
The potholes gaining in number and size by increase in vehicle
movements. Our bins were overflowing in every public space, and I even
caught some 'campers' emptying the rubbish out of their own vehicles
into my bin! I saw no council rangers during the period of the
holidays, patrolling for illegal campers, rubbish dumping or fires.
Some campers even set up right on the main local beach in front of the
emergency track, trailer and all. Still all asleep at 9am. The little
amount of money that North Byron Parklands gives to our council, does
not seem to go back into our area where it's obvious the greatest
impact is. It will only get worse. Why should we have to be defending
our own home, lifestyle, amenity and privacy. * My Wi-Fi internet has
still not recovered. There are some days I don't get any signal or it
keeps dropping out. This started the day before Falls Festival and is
still not working. I have tried sending this submission through four
times now but the connection fails over and over again. * My mobile
phone couldn't receive or make phone calls during the festival. Text
messages would come through hours later. Very difficult when it's our
only source of communication. * Our beaches, in particular our
recently regenerated dunes were trampled by festival patrons looking
for opportunity to go to toilet while enjoying the beach. Spinifex
grass was pulled out and trampled...and wonderful games of sliding
down the recently scraped dunes was a favourite. Lots of dirty toilet
paper was found behind the dunes, along with beer bottles and other
rubbish. Bonfires were even lit during the early hours of the morning
when it was obviously a high fire danger period. * Traffic on our
local roads was pretty crazy. * Noise at night by festival people
getting off the buses, drunk and yelling. They seem to forget that
people actually live here. * The showers at beach carpark were being
used for shampooing and washing by campers. It must be too costly for
campers out at the festival itself because there was a definite
increase in illegal camping. * Illegal air bnb right through our
towns. They are actually advertised for the festivals. * Festival flu!
This probably makes you laugh, but honestly every time there is a
festival with thousands and thousands of people from all over
Australia and the world coming together, we seem to end up with awful
flus, coughs and sickness that lasts for months! I have an auto-immune
disease and this can have serious ramifications. So to increase the
number of festivals/days is going to compound this highly contagious
problem. These are just a few points that come from my own personal
experience. Please really think about the impact these major festivals
have on the residents that actually live here.

I am in support of the submission to make Parklands a permanent site.
This is a beautiful venue and this state does not have enough of them.
I believe the organisers of the festivals held there have been highly
professional, very accessible to the community and their contribution,
both culturally and in terms of economic wealth to the region has been
substantial. They have proved to be very open to community feedback. I
believe that a permanent venue will be of substantial benefit to the
community. Please approve!

I support the permanent status of North Byron Parklands for cultural
and event use. We are so incredibly lucky to have this facility in our
area. For jobs growth, sustainability and community security we need
this amazing resource to be permanent.

I think it would be awesome for North Byron Parklands to be a permanent
site for Splendor in the Grass etc.

I work in tourism industry, on the Gold Coast, and believe that the
events held at Parklands have a far reaching benefit to not only the
Byron shire but also the Gold Coast region. I have personally attended
both Splendour and Falls festivals on several occasions, and honestly
believe these events are extremely well put together and run,
fantastic for the area, and the location is perfect. Regards, Michael
Schiller

I'm opposed to any increase in the number of festivals or number of
participants at the North Byron Parklands site for a number of
reasons: 1. Safety; they cannot get people the current 30000 in and
out in a reasonable amount of time (it currently takes 2 days), if
there is an emergency, the site would be a death trap. 2.
Environmental impact; the site is adjacent to the only intact wildlife
corridors between the mountains and the sea in the region. It cannot
cope with the current 30,000 people twice a year, it will not cope
with more people and more festivals. 3. Flooding, the site often
floods and if there was a large downpour of rain, like when EXTC
Debbie dropped 700mm in 48 hours, people would die. 4. Fire danger;
the site is located on a peat bog, which normally doesn't matter but
when they catch on fire, the burn under the ground and would pose a
tremendous hazard. 5. Traffic issues: as there is only one road in and
out there are already major traffic issues with the current numbers,
with 20,000 more people it would be total grid-lock. 6. Impact on
Brunswick Heads; as a resident of Brunswick Heads, we find our town
inundated with festival goers during the festivals, who leave rubbish,
park anywhere they like, drink in the streets and clog-up our cafes
and facilities. In my opinion the extension of licence to 50,000
people and increase in number festivals should be rejected. In
addition, it is more than evident that the experiment with this
festival site has been a failure in terms of safety, environmental
impact and impact on local residents. They should move it somewhere
else.

I think that the festivals held at north Byron park lands is a necessary
event to the area because- Customers for small business
(cafe,pubs,food shops, taxis, buses, Uber, restaurants, bottle shops,
cloths shops) Work for locals ( at the festival, local businesses will
hire for busy weeknd or week days) Takes people off the streets and
public areas on New Years (drinking on the streets and around houses.
It's a controlled event (security, police, doctors, volunteers And
many more..... The festival may bring mess to the parks lands but it
is cleaned as quick as possible, In my opinion I think the festival
has only just begun with the good and help it will bring to our area
with a permanent status then can do so much more....

The festivals bring a much needed boost to the economy, and they give an
opportunity for local people to work in new and interesting job roles,
along side international artists and performers. The events also give
and opportunity for local young people to interact with a wider group
of people. I am for additional events, I do however think traffic/site
amangemrnt needs to be given more consideration and a commitment to
continue investing in local community organizations would be good.

I feel Splendour In The Grass is a great project that benefits the local
businesses and community. Hope to see many more years to come.

I am a long time supporter of the Arts in the Byron Shire, particularly
Splendour in the Grass. The North Byron Parklands site is world class,
and provides a unique cultural experience for patrons whilst retaining
at its heart true environmental values. The future of this site is
important to the local economy through its nurturing of the Arts, and
the opportunity it affords to local (and national) artists to perform
at internationally recognised events. Many young locals have been
given employment and training opportunities through the events held at
the site. But at its core is the unique blend of environment, culture
and art that can be offered nowhere else in Byron Shire. It is vitally
important that North Byron Parklands application is approved in order
for it to continue to be able to present these world class events in
our back yard.

I am a local resident and as such am against making this site a State
Significant site. I strongly believe that our Local Council must
control what goes on in our community. They represent us, the
residents, and as such will be responsible to the community for what
goes on at Parklands. There are many issues which need to be
addressed, not the least of which is safety and security on the site.
One of my greatest concerns regarding this site is the effect that the
crowds and noise levels affect the local wildlife in this area. It is
not appropriate to have a music festival or any other event that
brings in thousands of people to an area that is a wildlife reserve.
Increased numbers are another concern. Recently my daughters attended
a festival and they were shocked by the inadequate security, lack of
light on pathways from the stages to the car park. They were also
surprised by the almost non existant checking of patrons bags upon
entry. Please do not make this a State Significant site.

Dear Madam/Sir I am writing in support of SSD 8169, a Modification to
Concept Approval MP 09_0028 and consent for the permanent use of the
North Byron Parklands as a cultural events site for up to 50,000
patrons. North Byron Parklands (NBP) is without peer, no events venue
has been given an approval to trials its viability before requiring a
further application for permanency. It has been through a rigorous
assessment process over 5 years which has taken into consideration all
aspects of the events including ecology, traffic, noise, flooding,
social and heritage impacts. One would be hard pressed to find a
better located site, it has proven unequivocally it's suitability and
viability as an appropriate events venue. Both close to a main
arterial road network but having relatively few direct neighbours it
is able to manage community impacts while concurrently providing much
needed work for locals, bringing the positive benefits of tourism to
Byron Shire, offering much needed community contributions by way of a
festival ticket levy and boosting the local economy. Parklands is one
of the largest single land holdings in the Byron Shire and Northern
Rivers region and is home to two internationally recognised events
which consistently sell out faster than any other festivals in
Australia. No other outdoor venue on the east coast of Australia can
camp and host these numbers of day patrons and campers. It should be
noted that only one event (Splendour in the Grass) would have the
ability to increase to 50,000 and this is only after meeting defined
KPI's as per the application. This event would only operate for up to
5 days per year. The maximum attendance for Falls Festival Byron would
be capped at 35,000 patrons. Other than Parklands there are no other
venues suitable for camping events on this scale. Culturally speaking,
these two events alone attract some of the world's biggest
contemporary artists to Australia each year, helping to keep Australia
and the NSW North Coast at the forefront of the international music
and creative arts industries. Over the previous 5 years it has refined
events operations successfully complying with noise criteria, traffic
KPI's, community considerations, ecological assessments, among many
other requirements. This success is due to the commitment and
dedication of the North Byron Parklands team. In a never ending quest
to deliver an well managed low impact venue, North Byron Parklands has
evolved and improved its delivery to the point where the nearest local
communities are largely satisfied with its operations. Pleasingly
community concerns about anti-social behaviour during festival times
have been unfounded. Reports from NSW Police, Tweed and Byron Rangers,
local residents, businesses and the festival community hotline,
describe behaviour in the surrounding communities as overwhelmingly
positive. Without operating certainty during this 5 year trial, North
Byron Parklands has spent more than $25m on development and
infrastructure. If approved the venue will see a further $42 million
investment. The proposed additional capital spend will allow Parklands
to build a conference centre and onsite water and wastewater
management systems that would not connected to local council municipal
systems (a feature not achieved by other outdoor venues in NSW) among
many other improvements which should see flow-on benefits to the local
amenity. In what has been arguably the most measured and publicly
scutinised events venue in Australia, its apparent the site has
excelled and the project should be approved. Best regards Jessica
Ducrou