Councillor challenges environmental protection in zoning
BYRON Shire deputy mayor Diane Woods has joined other Northern Rivers councillors to challenge their organisations over their 'improper and at times obfuscating conduct' over the issue of rezoning rural land to environmental protection.
Cr Woods and Chris Cubis from Byron Shire Council, Robert Dwyer, Maggie Creedy, Michael Reardon and Chris Simpson from Kyogle Council, Greg Bennett, Graham Meineke, Neil marks and Gianpero Battista from Lismore and Ballina councillor Ken Johnston have combined to demand that all affected property owners be fully informed of the consequences of the rezoning proposed in the region's draft LEPs.
These include "the impact of overlays, such as for water and biodiversity" and the reduction of the permitted use of property and a potential devaluation of properties, Cr Woods said today (Monday).
"It appears to us that the Ballina, Byron, Lismore and Kyogle councils are blatantly obfuscating the facts and refusing to honestly appraise property owners of the currently permitted use for their property, and how those uses are severely curtailed with the proposed E-zones," Cr Woods said in a statement.
Regarding their councils' "improper" behaviour, Cr Woods said it was a "disturbing element of the LEP drafting process that the Parsons Brinckerhoff consultancy was the firm contracted by Byron Council to produce its Local Environment Study and suggested the E zonings fir in to the proposed LEP.
"I am most concerned that the firm will be unable to impartially review the zones," she said.
