The Byron Bay blues

The annual Roots & Blues and Splendour in the Grass multi-day concerts are the target of local angst over the noise they create, particularly for those living nearby (their venues abutt residential areas).

This is another issue that divides Byron between those who would like to see the concerts move on and those who want to retain them for cultural and economic reasons. A recent council proposal to move them to a new venue away from residential areas met with opposition from people living in the vicinity. It seems the issue is in stalemate.

The Arts and Industrial estate on Byron’s northern outskirts is a lesser source of noise complaints. Night noise is reported from the ice factory, from Hanson’s cement works (a Boral company) where heavy vehicles are operated sometimes at 5.30am and at night, well outside the company’s voluntary agreement of a 7am start, and from other sources.

Ironically, housing was allowed to be built around the estate without the erection of a sound wall, surely a condemnation of Byron Council’s planning processes. Then there are the continuing complaints over obnoxious odours emitted by the chicken factory, odours that seem to settle over the Sunrise subdivision on some still nights.

What future?

It is said that Byron Bay suffers from a “locals and outsiders”, an “us and them” complex. There is some truth to this and it may be more pronounced than in other seaside tourist towns. The sheer number of visitors almost doubles the population in holiday season and backpacker tourism is highly visible.

So, what’s the future for this town with all its controversies? How will residents negotiate a détente between the economic need for tourism and the equally valid need for quality of life and a sense of control of the town they live in? And what about those jobs that real estate agent spoke of? Where are they? Well, for the most part, they aren’t.

The benefit of Byron Bay’s occasionally torrid experience is that it gives coastal towns undergoing population growth a glimpse of the sorts of challenges they may face.