Our proposal went on public exhibition with the NSW Department of Planning in October 2010 for six weeks. The Department received 4,821 submissions in support of the proposal and 715 submissions against. The Department also received a petition with 4,160 signatures in support of the proposal and petitions totalling 25 signatures against.

North Byron Parklands has listened to the concerns raised by members of the community and in response we have revised and amended our original proposal. The document Reply to submissions and preferred project report, which is 291 pages without appendices, includes the following modifications to the proposal:

The downsizing of the scale and frequency of events for the first five years, including:

• No more than three major events a year
• No more than a total of ten event days per year
• Starting capacity of the three major events at 60% (30,000* patrons), 50% (25,000 patrons) and 40% (20,000 patrons)
• No more than 15% increase per event annually subject to satisfying key performance indicators
• No minor, small or moderate events in the first five years

Additional environmental initiatives including:

• Further commitments to create additional habitat lands including new habitat along the Jones Road ridge and the creation of 12.9 hectares of wetland buffer habitat in the southern part of the site. These commitments are in addition to the over 50 hectare increase in the area of native vegetation across the site which the proposal creates. The overall land holding is 258.71 hectares. The area proposed for events including parking, camping etc is 93.29 hectares. Therefore the proposal will use only 37% of the site for event purposes.
• Implementation of a Significant Rainfall Event Forecasting system, a camphor laurel removal program and the immediate fencing of central forest blocks to exclude cattle.
• The lodgement of an annual performance Bond with the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water to ensure a high level of environmental management.

Events will only occur if they comply with North Byron Parklands’ Environmental, Health and Safety Manual. This key document sets out a process for identifying and managing health and safety aspects. It also requires events to operate within the parameters of thirteen Environmental, Health and Safety standards covering such areas as ecology, traffic and offsite community issues management.

A later stage proposes a conference centre with a capacity of up to 180 people, a cultural centre covering local indigenous and non-indigenous history from the immediate area, a depot and office for a dedicated rainforest restoration team and a plant nursery for rainforest and bush tucker plants.

The longer term upper limits for events at North Byron Parklands are:

• Minor event – less than 300 patrons - no daily limits are proposed (there will be no minor events for the first five years)
• Small event – 300 to 3,000 patrons – no more than 4 event days per year (there will be no small events for the first five years).
• Moderate event – 3,000 to 10,000 patrons – no more than 4 event days per year (there will be no moderate events for the first five years).
• Major event – greater than 10,000 patrons – no more than 12 event days per year.
  Splendour would occupy 3 of these 12 event days.

Extensive studies have shown that a manageable long term upper limit of patrons at North Byron Parklands is 50,000 for a major event. However, capacity increases from 30,000 would only be sought based on an assessment of the operational performance of the development against a series of Environmental Health and Safety Standards which include indicators such as noise, traffic and environmental management. North Byron Parklands would need to demonstrate that it had complied with or bettered these standards before capacity increases could be considered by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure.

Community Grants Fund
We have established a Community Grants Program which will commence with the first major event held. The program will distribute over $100,000 each year to local community groups and charities when North Byron Parklands is operating at capacity.

Economic impact
When operating at capacity North Byron Parklands will generate the following positive impacts (RPS Group 2010):

• Create 210 full time equivalent jobs, predominantly in the targeted industries of cultural tourism and the creative industries.
• Generate $192 million annually (total multiplier effect).
• Bring an estimated 22,907 day trippers annually.
• Bring an estimated 97,418 visitor nights annually.
• Bring an estimated $4,960.438 annual expenditure on accommodation.
• Bring an estimated $7,606,289 annual expenditure on meals.

Residential amenity
Our application details extensive commitments to avoid where possible or otherwise mitigate impacts upon the residential amenity of those living around the site. Below are some of the measures we have committed to in order to preserve the residential amenity in the north of the Byron Shire for the limited periods of time that events will occur each year.

Community

• We will advise local residents prior to major events (over 10,000 patrons). Immediate neighbours will be personally contacted prior to moderate and major events. Advertisements will be placed in local papers advising of event dates and times, traffic considerations, community hotline details and other relevant information.
  All information will be on the North Byron Parklands website.
• During major events we will operate a telephone and web-based hotline for any community member to let us know of immediate issues.
• During major events we will operate an off-site response team to address and manage any issues. These could include event patrons walking on non-event land, illegally parked vehicles etc.
• The off-site response team will include a litter response team.
• During moderate and major events we will provide extensive on-site medical services and police services. For major events we will provide on-site ambulance services (paid for by the event).
• We will work in partnership with holiday accommodation organisations. Accommodation demands will be prioritised toward on-site camping. For off-site needs holiday accommodation precincts in Byron Shire and the Tweed Coast with ‘regulated site management’ premises will be utilized.
• We will liaise with local communities to either promote their community or redirect activity away toward communities seeking tourism related business. Event literature (hard copy and digital) will either be silent about a local destination (to minimise visits) or specifically target the destination (to optimise local economic activity) as desired by that community. This targeting can be total or it can work with our shuttle bus services to bring patrons at specific times of day. For example a nearby commercial centre may want event patrons for breakfast and lunch but not at night.

Traffic Management
Our comprehensive Transport Management Plan will:

• Employ incentive strategies to maximise car occupancy, thereby reducing the number of cars attending events.
• Employ strategies to maximise public transport, private bus usage, bicycles and car pooling to reduce the number of cars attending events.
• Provide public transport connections to adjacent townships and key transport nodes such as airports, bus stations and railways, where applicable.
• Manage traffic during ‘bump in and bump out’ and event days.
• Provide priority to local traffic movement past the site.
• Provide substantial queuing capacity thus avoiding queuing on Tweed Valley Way.
• Facilitate efficient processing and inspection of event patron vehicles within the site.
• Provide event site access for patrons over an appropriate time frame prior to events to reduce peak traffic.
• For major events, secure approval for temporary closure and access control (residents and their visitors only) of Jones Road for event days.
• Provide security services along Jones Road to ensure that event patrons and other unauthorised people do not access the road or private land.
• For major events, secure approval for access control (residents and their visitors only) of Yelgun Road for event days (if desired by residents).
• Provide security services and engage on a pay for use basis National Parks Officers in the immediate area to stop unauthorised people from accessing private property or the Billinudgel Nature Reserve.

Noise Management
We have prepared a comprehensive Noise Management Plan. This will obviously be more relevant to a music festival than other types of events held at North Byron Parklands. Acoustics have been examined in detail with respect to the potential impact of events on immediate residents and the environment. There are strict noise levels, a range of sophisticated noise monitoring systems and mitigating measures including venue control procedures if approved noise levels are exceeded. Sophisticated noise modeling demonstrates that noise travel to nearby residential areas in the south (2.7km away) will not experience noise in excess of approved noise limits.
This is due to:

• Marshall’s Ridge acting as a natural sound barrier
• The use of unidirectional speaker systems.
• Stages being oriented in a northerly direction; and
• Noise attenuating barriers around the back of stages.

Notwithstanding, we will be doing all we can to monitor and manage noise concerns wherever they arise.

The Noise Management Plan covers:

• Pre, during and post event noise levels.
• The provision of attended monitoring at the boundary of residents in close proximity to the venue during the day, evening and night time of each event day.
• The engagement of an independent noise consultant who will attend, during events, the boundary of an affected property to monitor noise levels. If noise levels are found to be above approved limits the consultant will contact the stage manager(s) via radio and/or mobile phone to direct a reduction in volume. The provision of attended monitoring and unattended noise logging for ecological purposes before, during and after the event.
• Continuous monitoring of front of house music levels for all main stages. Sound engineers shall be provided with warnings when specified noise criteria is approached. Event PA’s shall be designed and installed to minimise noise spillage.
• Event stage managers shall be allocated to each PA based music stage and be authorised to override mixing desks if sound exceeds the approved level (including removal of power if the music act’s own sound engineer refuses to comply with direction from stage management).
• Event stage managers shall comply with all directions from the independent noise consultant to ensure that approved noise levels are met.
• A post event noise report shall be provided detailing any noise issues, remedial action, noise levels and data from unattended noise loggers.

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Contact - community@northbyronparklands.com