Feedback on the Housing Options Paper closed on Monday 6 November. We thank you for your feedback, almost 300 submissions were received.
A feedback report will be considered by Council on 14 December 2023 at the Planning meeting, which will include the preferred options to enable a refresh of the Residential Strategy in 2024.
This will then inform future changes to Council's Local Environmental Plan and other planning controls.
About the Housing Options Paper
The Housing Options Paper includes:
- Options for new release areas and infill
- Options for existing residential zoned land (vacant land)
- Options for how we could live differently.
- New release and infill areas in the existing Residential Strategy that are no longer suitable for housing due to flood constraints.
The Paper then sets out a preferred way forward based on localities.
The Paper and feedback will inform the refresh of our existing Residential Strategy.
Maps of proposed changes
Maps showing the proposed changes are available to download from this page.
These include additional housing sites identified by the NSW Government through the draft Northern Rivers Resilient Lands Strategy, in Bangalow and Brunswick Heads.
Maps are also contained within the Housing Options Paper.
Additional lands for investigation
When Council supported the Housing Options Paper to proceed to consultation, they also resolved that the following additional lands be investigated for inclusion:
- 29 Buckleys Road, Tyagarah
- 75 New City Road, Mullumbimby
- 64 Corkwood Crescent, Suffolk Park
- Council owned land including the property on Vallances Road and any depot or other flood free land.
See below for more details and location maps.
View the Housing Options Paper(PDF, 10MB)
1B: Infill urban areas with reduced lot size
Please note there is an error on page 18 of the paper. The minimum lot size for attached dual occupancies and other forms of low rise medium density housing would decrease to 600m2.
Additional Lands for investigation
At the Planning Meeting held on 28 September, when Council supported the Housing Options Paper to proceed to consultation, they also resolved that additional lands be investigated for potential inclusion.
The lands included:
- 29 Buckleys Road, Tyagarah
- 75 New City Road, Mullumbimby
- 64 Corkwood Crescent, Suffolk Park
- Council owned land including the property on Vallances Road and any depot or other, flood free land.
View Council's decision about the Housing Options Paper.
The Mullumbimby and Suffolk Park properties are shown on their respective maps as 'removed investigation areas'. This is because they had been reconsidered as part of the staff review of properties for the Housing Options paper.
The Tyagarah property has was not included in the 2020 Residential Strategy. This property was added by the above resolution.
These properties will be reviewed as to their suitability for inclusion in the final Housing Options Paper and reported back to Council in December, along with all feedback received.
What are the options for delivering housing in the future?
The Housing Options Paper identifies four ways housing can be delivered in the future:
Infill
Infill sites are under-utilised or vacant land (individual lots) in urban areas with a zone that allows residential development.
Generally, infill sites offer an opportunity to create more homes in areas where there is an existing community and services and facilities.
Vacant land
Vacant land includes areas of residential zoned land that have not yet been physically subdivided and developed for residential purposes.
It also includes sites that have development approvals in place for new housing, but construction has not yet commenced.
New release
New release areas are land that has been identified to be rezoned from a non-residential zone to enable homes to be developed on the land.
They are sometimes referred to as ‘greenfield’ areas and generally require services and facilities to be provided to support new housing and communities.
Living differently
Living differently includes changes to how we live, use and design our homes to respond to housing options and pressures in the Byron Shire.
Living differently is applicable to infill, new release and vacant land. It could include multi-generational living, dual key homes and work/live arrangements.
What are the new housing targets for Byron Shire?
The NSW Government has released new housing targets for the Byron Shire.
By 2041, we will need to deliver 4,522 homes for 8,590 people.
This target is supported by the new North Coast Regional Plan 2041 which has a strong focus on infill development.
We are committed to exceeding this target through a mixture of the options of infill, new release, development of vacant land and living differently.
What is the preferred way forward?
The preferred way forward for the four different options of infill, new release, vacant land and living differently will vary for each of the localities. Details of these can be viewed in the Paper.
Why does the Residential Strategy need to be refreshed?
The Residential Strategy sets a policy framework for how and where future housing in Byron Shire’s urban residential areas will be delivered for the next 20 years. After its adoption in 2020, it was not endorsed by the NSW Government.
Since then, many significant events have occurred, changes have been made to State and local policies and critical decisions have been made that inform and affect housing options in our Shire.
We now know that:
- what we envisaged when the Residential Strategy was written can’t all be delivered.
- over the next 20 years we need to find more homes for people to live in our Shire.
Any future housing must be safe, focus on retaining the local character of places and ensure diversity of the people who call the Byron Shire home.
We also need to take into account that infrastructure is reaching capacity in some locations and there are opportunities for greater density to meet our housing needs.