Bangalow is a rural village of about 2,000 people - and growing - within the Byron Shire and the Northern Rivers region.

There is much community involvement in Bangalow with many ideas and initiatives implemented in previous years to make the vibrant town and village centre it is today.

This study looks at pulling together many of these ideas and capitalising on what Bangalow already offers and to integrate the results of many present day discussions, workshops and gatherings with our current feelings, economic potential and community needs.

There is no desire to re-invent the wheel but rather to simply use the many great ideas and visions already available as the basis for this study and to listen to what the community is saying, rather than superimpose city and urban development onto a village as unique and individual as Bangalow.

Present day Bangalow has many assets which surpass other towns because it is a rural village surrounded by the biodiversity of open green spaces with a vibrant economic and social community.

This study outlines a way to capitalise on the assets we already have and co-ordinates them into a Master Plan framework which allows us to realise our future community potential and growth.

BACKGROUND

There have been many proposals, discussions, ideas and reports put forward over many years for the compact village of Bangalow which have achieved some short term gains but they have been unable to move the township towards the comprehensive overall holistic direction that is needed to realise the full potential of such a vibrant community.

Among the many documents prepared initially were the Sanoff Report by the Department of Architecture, University of Sydney in 1994, The Heritage Study by Tim Shellshear and Planning Workshop in 1983 and the Heritage Colour study by Tim Shellshear in 1985.

Byron Council’s DCP no.12 quantified the extent and value placed on the main street by zoning it as “Heritage” in the LEP 1988.

The Bangalow Settlement Strategy adopted by Council in 2003 incorporated the Northern Rivers Regional Strategy, the North Coast Urban Planning Strategy, the Planning NSW Urban Settlement Strategy guidelines for the North Coast and Byron Council’s greenprint for a sustainable future and established residential growth areas on the periphery of the town.

Many submissions were made to the Bangalow chapter of the draft DCP under the new LEP 2014 including a Village Centre Master Plan from the Design Advisory Panel (DAP) which outlined a comprehensive concept for the greater village centre. A copy of part of their submission is included on the following pages for reference.

Studies by local community interest groups have initiated individual projects which have been positive but uncoordinated in the overall comprehensive planning needed for a small viable village.
In recent times Council has initiated planning workshops to involve all community groups, landowners and residents to establish baseline requirements for future planning and a master plan for the town centre.

The president of Bangalow Progress Association (BPA) Tony Hart writes: “Last years ‘Have your say survey Bangalow’ was the first stage in updating the Settlement Strategy (2003) - the foundation of a new Bangalow village plan. Respondents told us what they liked and disliked about our village. The village scale, the heritage look and feel, the rural atmosphere with surrounding green hills and our cafes, shops, markets and our green areas dominated the ‘likes’. Through-traffic, parking, lack of proper well-placed internal walking and cycle networks were desired improvements.”