Council welcomes recommendations on holiday letting from IPC

Published on 28 April 2023

Council has welcomed the suite of 12 recommendations on planning rules for the Byron Shire for short term holiday letting handed down by the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) this week.

“We are feeling very positive about the recommendations handed down by the IPC,” Byron Shire Council Mayor Michael Lyon said.

“The report shows how closely the IPC has listened to the Byron Shire community and Council and that they’ve heard us on the significant housing pressures we’re experiencing and the impacts of holiday letting.

“The Commission’s suggested policy settings actually show how well they have understood the complexity of the issue and sought to address it in much the same way as recently announced by the State Government in Western Australia.

“Their suggestion is to tighten the cap for non-hosted STRA as exempt development from 180 days to 60 days that would apply across the entirety of Byron Shire, rather than the precinct system of 90 or 365 days that formed Council’s final planning proposal that was examined as part of the hearing.

“This would be along with a suite of other policy settings that would see non-hosted STRA property owners wanting to exceed the 60 day cap in areas already zoned for tourism requiring development consent from Council.

“The IPC’s report states that ‘unlike the 90-day cap, a 60 day cap would send a serious market signal to encourage a shift from non-hosted STRA uses to long-term rental’ – and that’s ultimately what we are hoping to achieve,” the Mayor said.

Council staff are working through the detail of the 84 page report and will be liaising with the NSW Department of Planning on next steps.