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

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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...