North Byron Parklands - Cultural Events Site

I believe the Nth Byron Parklands site is a valuable resource for hosting
large scale community festivals and events. The site is respectfully
managed and festivals well organized. I would like to see greater use
of this perfect event facility. I applaud the measures North Byron
Parklands have put in place to minimise impact of festivals on local
residents and increase the amenity and safety of festival patrons. I
would like to suggest provision of a person-2-person free voluntary
breath testing service be mandatory for festivals and events at which
patrons are likely to consume alcohol and drive. Ideally this would
apply to all festivals and events in regional areas of NSW. Falls and
Splendour have supported the presence of STEER Voluntary Breath
Testing at their festivals since 2013. Our results indicate voluntary
breath testing is a simple and effective measure to change drink
driving intentions - visit
http://steerproject.org.au/voluntary-breath-testing/reports/

I strongly support this cultural precinct which brings significant
economic benefits and social capital to the area. The signature events
held on the Parklands are professionally run and are cultural icons
for young Australians.

I've been a coach driver for 25 years and delivered patrons to many
cultural and music venues right across Australia, and I can say
without a doubt that North Byron Parklands now has one of the best
management plans for security,traffic, transport and infrastructure of
all the festivals I've worked with. They continually try to improve
services and support for their patrons and local communities, and they
provide many jobs and associated jobs like mine, that assist many
families through School Holidays and Christmas. If it wasn't for
Splendour and The Falls Festival, I too would struggle through the
School Holidays. NBP do a great job of managing this huge 660 acre
site, including their dedication to their environmental initiatives
and programs within this site. They help so many Schools and community
groups with financial grants each year, and they've made a huge
difference in the local economy. They've earned the opportunity to
manage a permanent cultural event site in the Byron Shire and show how
it can be done in a sustainable fashion.

I'm a local supporter of the North Byron Parklands through attendance of
the Falls & Splendour music festivals. I hope to continue providing my
ongoing support to these and hopefully many other festival, cultural
and family orientated events in the coming years. It's of National &
International importance to our region to have sites like the
Parklands to show off the significant Music & Arts talents that come
from the Local region also and for these local artists to have the
pleasure of performing side by side with World renowned Acts.

The NSW state government spent millions to protect this immensely
environmental significant site : the only wildlife corridor linking
the hinterland and the Border Ranges to the coast in the Northern
Rivers . This has all been forgotten in the devious quest over the
years developers to turn it into a mega festival venue totally
unsuited to the site and the Byron Shire. I recollect in the early
days when Parklands was seeking permission to hold Splendour the
community was told that this would be just like the Woodford site, one
or two small events a year.Thus they said there would no impact on the
wildlife corridor.The proposal ,if approved, will destroy the
environmental qualities that we as a community have the responsibility
to protect for future generations. With big international business now
involved,the stakeholders are on a full out pressurising mission to
get maximum use of the site to make max profit.Hence the devious move
to take the control of the site from our local Council to State Govt
bureaucrats who really have no idea of what goes on locally,who are
out of touch with community . As community member I have no faith in
this process .Once again we have $$$ and developers greed driving
change.Community loses out yet again.Frequent staff changes within the
the state govt,. decision making bureaucracies lack the historical
perspective and 'memory' of long running development sagas such as
this. The Byron Shire does not need more tourists ..we are are unable
to cope with the current load .Our Council lacks the resources to
maintain our infrastructure which is in a parlous state . It is a
spurious argument that the tourist $$ are good for us.The ploy of the
proponents is to keep all patrons on site thus spending on site : food
alcohol,accomdn,services means the big money goes to them.If this
proposal is approved yet more on site accomodation and housing
oppportunities will be sought. Not much of a positive trickle down
effect. The local employment argument line is equally spurious
especially when seen against the long term damage inflicted on the
environment and the the local community.Old school friends of my sons
specifically get jobs lined up to come ' home' for festivals.An
overseas friend has a son who is temporarily living in NZ is coming
over with a NZ business to work at a local music festival. After
having attended the PAC sessions I am weary of hearing the employment
argument used by random staff ,opportunistic businesses from
Sydney,Melbourne and Brisbane ( who pay outrageous fees for on site
stall, And why does PAC,DPE favour the the arguments of festival
punters( often doing pro format submissions) who live outside the
Shire who have no idea of the bigger picture impacts on our local
community? Very little, proportional to Parlkands profits, is paid in
rates etc by Parklands to BSC .I am appalled that Federal Govt funding
( ie tax payer $$ ) helped get the roundabout constructed ....that
solved all sorts of traffic issues for Parklands.Ditto that tax payer
funded environmental grants that have enabled so much of the heralded
tree planting by Parklands.And let's not forget the volunteer labour
that was also used. There should have been only one festival site in
the Shire but each developer ( Blues Fest and Parklands ) wanted to
maximise their profits not share. I have written numerous submissions
on the Parklands site, spoken at PAC at least once,attended the
others.Visited the site as an environmental rep way back in the early
days cc 2007?And I went to the latest Community consultation at Ocean
Shores..a disappointing and inadequate process generally . No idea if
this is even being read by anyone . Generally we in the community are
not listened too.Basically I have no faith in the democratic system/
process that is supposed to support community and work for the common
good. Big business has unfortunately manipulated and 'tilted' the
system. BSC needs to maintain control over development issues on the
Parklands site.It is imperative that it remains local ...distant
bureaucrats will continue to be bluffed (and effectively bullied) by
the proponent . The DPE does not have the resources to oversee
effectively this mega festival development. Please listen to the
genuine community voice ..not be predictably swayed a 'green' spinning
developer,those with financial self interests and community
organisations that have been bought off with blood money. There should
have been only one festival site in the Shire but each developer (
Blues and Parklands ) wanted to maximise their profits not share.
Development controls of this site needs to be with Byron Shire
Council.Festivals ,events and patron need to be limited not expanded .

I support the North Byron Parklands submission to continue events on the
site

Itshould remain as it is well organised. easily accessible from Gold
Coast ( which would cause huge road blocks getting nearer or into
Byron town ) It is near the highway , it is isolated from any living
area . Employment for locals ,

My name is Colin Ludlow and am I local farmer, right next door to
festivals. These music festivals not only boost our local economy, but
help local business owners gain a sigh of relief from the revenue that
is produced by the 30 000 tourist if you say flooding our markets. The
organisers do an amazing job keeping the roads smooth, noise down and
I have never had a word of disturbance from any festivals goers In my
opinion these festivals are essential for our community and our young
generation having a holiday in one of the most beautiful parts of the
country.

Permanent Approval should not be granted, as it cannot be foreseen what
the future holds in terms of severe weather events and impacts on
local infrastructure which is clearly insufficient to cope. That the
consent authority has been transferred to the state government
constitutes an erosion of democracy and lack of trust in government.
State government does not account for its poor governance in relation
to monitoring and approving the project. The proponent gleefully
thinks that he will get everything he wants from the government and
the local communities are sidelined and suffer. Permanent approval
will lead to an explosion of onsite development which cannot be
matched by necessary and corresponding external development. The
planned festivals should only be granted case by case approvals so
that conditions can be amended according to circumstances.

The North Coast area is a Special place where people come from all over
the world to enjoy. The Byron Parklands site is a perfect Location to
host large festivals which minimal impact to local communities. The
festivals that are accommodated at this site have a great financial
benefit to the community and create additional, much needed employment
to the area. I and other family members have visited this site during
festival periods and have been impressed with the excellent management
of such a large number of people.

North Byron Parklands is a great feature to the area not only for
entertainment but for generating employment to the local area. We
employ some 38 full time / permanent staff and have been fortunate to
gain ongoing work from this Event site. I have personally been to both
Falls and Splendour functions with my partner and friends and found it
to be of a great atmosphere. The property itself is in an excellent
accessible venue site and the planning to organise such these event/s
has nothing but the best staff to produce this.

A very well located and constructed festifull site that attracts
significant tourism and visitors a very well run event 100% support
this ongoing site

This area is a wildlife sensitive corridor and totally inappropriate as a
music festival site for the number of participants. There is also too
much demand on our infrastructure which was never designed to deal
with 50K extra visitors. Please rethink about allowing permanent
ongoing festival rights to this organisation.

1. The area is too important for wildlife to allow this kind of noise and
other pollution. The noise level damages the hearing of our native
wildlife much of which is nocturnal with extremely sensitive hearing,
and prevents them hearing what they need to hear in order to feed. 2.
Any study by the festival organisers on the impacts of noise on
wildlife carries no weight. A study would need to be comprehensive and
independent but by its nature would probably be unethical. 3. The
organisers could use the Blues Festival site. There is no need to use
the Yelgun Wildlife Corridor site. 4. No amount of 'vegetation
rehabilitation' (largely financed by government grants and volunteer
labour) entice wildlife to remain subjected to intense noise levels
and massive patron numbers and their cars. 5. The organisers monitor
noise levels. Only CONOS Inc have independently monitored noise levels
and found that the organisers are not truthful and have exceeded the
noise limits many times. 6. Only the Sydney-based NSW environment
department oversee whether the organisers follow the rules. They are
rarely seen here. 7. The festivals have a history of breaking the
rules and only receiving minor fines which they easily absorb and
which offer no disincentive to continue breaking the rules.

As a local tourism business, we welcome the permanent use of the North
Byron Parklands as a cultural events site. We believe (and indeed
experience ourselves) that the economical boost to our area is
significant, and needed, resulting from the periods of events held at
the site. As a vintage campervan hire company, we provide hire
vehicles to patrons of the site during events and festivals and have,
without exception, found the hirers to be highly respectful of both
our vehicles and the environment in which they are driven. We support
the application wholeheartedly.

Yes to regional jobs Yes to vibrant arts and culture Yes to ongoing local
partnerships

It's one of, if not the best set up in Australia for these events!!

As a former journalist with Byron Shire News and The Northern Star, and a
long-term resident of Byron Bay, I wholeheartedly support North Byron
Parklands being used for entertainment, tourism and recreational
purposes. I have witnessed first-hand their commitment to community
engagement, environmental sustainability, and supporting local
businesses. And I continue to be astounded by how quickly the clean-up
teams transform the festival site into a pristine parkland, year after
year.

I believe that the submission should go ahead.

I fully support this application. I live within 1km of the site and have
never had any issues with the noise, or traffic I see the care taken
by the organisation, and the lengths taken to support, protect and
enhance the environment, which is over and above what would be
reasonably expected. The economic benefits that flow through to the
local businesses in Yelgun, Billinudgel, Brunswick Heads and Ocean
Shores are imeasurably large. It is imperative for the community and
the local economy that this project be approved. It assists in
creating seasonal work opportunities for local youth amongst many
other benefits.