BALLINA Shire Council will offer land at Lennox Head to NSW Police for a new station, overturning a decision made before the September election.<\/p>\n
The site on the corner of Byron Bay Road and Hutley Drive had been earmarked for a preschool, but the centre will now be located within the new Lennox Head Primary School development.<\/p>\n
Councillors resolved in August to reject a proposal to gift NSW Police the land on the condition it build a police station there. Instead, they requested a report on future options for the land and a greater police presence in Lennox Head.<\/p>\n
Ballina councillors Eva Ramsey, Kiri Dicker, and Simon Chate lodged a rescission motion against the decision at the October meeting.<\/p>\n
Cr Ramsey said she brought the rescission motion as four councillors were absent from the original vote.<\/p>\n
“I want us to delve into it so that all of the people in the community know we have done our best to get some sort of policing in this area.”<\/p>\n
She said the site, which was next to the Lennox Head Rural Fire Service shed, was the ideal location for a police station in an area with a growing population, and it was worth exploring whether the police would take up the offer.<\/p>\n
She said having emergency services nearby could make a “life and death difference” in some instances.<\/p>\n
Cr Dicker said the community wanted a police station in the town, and they needed to explore the possibility of it being a police station while the land was still available.<\/p>\n
Minister for Police and Counter Terrorism Yasmin Catley said, in response to a council letter, that most crime rates in Lennox Head had remained stable over the past two years.<\/p>\n
Cr Phil Meehan said the reality was the police station “was not going to happen” as the crime rates in the town didn’t warrant it.<\/p>\n
He said the land size and ongoing resourcing needed to staff the station would prohibit a it from being built at the site.<\/p>\n
Mayor Sharon Cadwallader agreed, saying Ballina was already 60 police officers short, let alone staffing a new station.<\/p>\n
She said it was cost-shifting from the state to local government to offer the land at a peppercorn rent.<\/p>\n
Councillors resolved to offer the land to NSW Police.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BALLINA Shire Council will offer land at Lennox Head to NSW Police for a new station, overturning a decision made before the September election. The site on the corner of Byron Bay Road and Hutley Drive had been earmarked for a preschool, but the centre will now be located within the new Lennox Head Primary […]<\/p>\n