Lismore’s mayor is calling on councillors to support a motion, to launch an investigation into affordable housing.
Councillor Vanessa Ekins says more than 60 per cent of the city’s homes are lived in by one or two people.
The pandemic has amplified demand for smaller houses or units.
“What I’m hoping to do tonight is start a process where we talk to builders and developers about what the barriers are them to building units. We’re getting there, we’re going to provide housing,” Cr Ekins said.
If the motion passes at tonight’s meeting, a report will be delivered to council in July.
Rous County Council Chair Keith Williams. Photo David Lowe.
Since the Dunoon Dam was shelved, Rous County Council has put a new draft of the Future Water Project 2060 on public exhibition. They are currently seeking feedback from people living in the four constituent councils of Richmond Valley, Byron, Ballina and Lismore.
In part two of this two part series,
The Echo sat down with Rous Chair Keith Williams to dig into the detail, and address some of the controversy around the future of water in the Northern Rivers.
Your opponents are currently attacking recycled water using quite inflammatory language. Is this damaging the prospects of success of projects like Perradenya, which some of these people have previously publicly supported?
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Subscriber only There s no doubt we have a lifelong love of sport on the Northern Rivers and the launch of 2021 Masters games on Thursday reinforced just how keen we are. When the Lismore Workers Club hosted the launch of the 12th biannual Lismore Workers Masters Games, the room was packed (in a socially distant manner) with sporting greats including cricket doyen Lynne Larson. Masters Games Organising Committee Chairman Matt Barlow said Lismore has successfully hosted the event since 1999. This year the Masters Games will be one of the best the region has prepared and a great way for participants to enjoy sport and the social aspect after what has been a tough year for sport surrounding COVID-19, he said.
Lismore’s mayor has responded to criticism that council isn’t doing enough to address the city’s housing affordability issues.
Vanessa Ekins says council is playing its part – putting the pressure on the state and federal governments to invest more money in social housing.
“Council has a good turnover of development applications and we have a lot of land zoned ready for development. Unfortunately, a lot of developers are sitting on that land waiting for house prices to go up,” Mayor Ekins said.
Byron and Tweed shire councils have declared a “housing emergency.”
Mayor Ekins believes Lismore doesn’t need to follow suite because the city isn’t impacted severely by Airbnb-style letting.
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The Dunoon Dam has twice been rejected by Rous County Council as an option to secure future water supply for the Northern Rivers, so why does it remain a topic of heated debate?
Lismore City Council heard a motion at its meeting this week, requesting the council support the dam being put back on the table for consideration.
The motion was not successful, with five of eight councillors voting against it, but there remains a push from some sectors to see the dam reinstated to the Future Water Project 2060.
In December, the water authority for the region, Rous County Council, voted to exclude the Dunoon Dam as an option, electing to change the focus of the plan to other options – such as upgrading Marom Creek Water Treatment Plant and the use of new underground water from the Alstonville area for the first 10 years, to develop technology to allow for direct and indirect potable reuse of water.