FAQs

We've gathered the questions we're most often asked, including what these approvals do and don't mean. If yours isn't here, you're welcome to get in touch. Ask us a question.

About the project

  • A new employment precinct on Gulgan Road, in the north of Byron Shire between Brunswick Heads and Mullumbimby. Around 6.5 hectares has been set aside for workshops, studios, trade premises and small commercial uses, including work-live space where owner-operators can run a business and live on the same site. It's the working side of the wider Gulgan area, planned alongside the proposed Gulgan Village.

  • The land is privately owned, with Byron-based Creative Capital as development managers. A full team of specialist consultants has prepared the proposal, covering planning, urban design, engineering, ecology, bushfire, heritage and more. The team is listed on the home page.

  • On Gulgan Road, west of the Pacific Motorway (M1), in the north of Byron Shire. It's about 6 minutes from Brunswick Heads, 9 from Mullumbimby and 16 from Byron Bay, with good motorway access for the businesses that will be based there.

  • They're neighbours, planned alongside one another as a parallel piece of work. Gulgan Village is a proposed residential village; BILS Area 5 is the employment precinct beside it. The idea is a genuine working village, with jobs close to homes, rather than an industrial estate set apart from the community.

The Planning Proposal

  • It's the formal way to change the planning rules for a piece of land. What you can do with a site is set by Council's Local Environmental Plan (LEP); to allow something the current rules don't, the LEP has to be amended, and that request is a Planning Proposal. For BILS Area 5, this is done, and the new rules are now law.

  • No. Changing the rules is not the same as approving a building. The rezoning sets what is possible here and the standards any development must meet. It does not approve any particular development, which still needs its own development application, assessed by Council and placed on public exhibition.

  • The land was rezoned from rural to a mix of employment and conservation zones, with a maximum building height of 11.5 metres, a floor space ratio of 0.9:1, a minimum lot size of 2,000 square metres for the employment lots, and a work-live provision in the business-park precinct. It was gazetted on 30 May 2025.

  • A Development Control Plan is the detailed rulebook beneath the LEP. BILS Area 5 has its own chapter (Chapter E11), adopted by Council in April 2026. It controls how the precinct is built: building form and height, subdivision and long-term governance, streets and access, landscape, drainage, bushfire and environmental management.

  • In Precinct A, a building can combine a workspace with a home, so an owner-operator can run their business and live on the same site. It's held to genuine work-live: the workspace is the main use, and the home can't be split off and sold as a standalone dwelling.

The Development Control Plan (DCP)

  • A Development Control Plan is the detailed rulebook beneath the LEP. BILS Area 5 has its own chapter (Chapter E11), adopted by Council in April 2026. It controls how the precinct is built: building form, setbacks and materials, subdivision and long-term governance, streets and access, landscape, drainage, bushfire and environmental management.

  • That's much of its purpose. Building form, setbacks, landscaping and the materials it sets give Council the basis to refuse proposals that don't meet them, and because those controls are locked into the precinct's Community Title, they keep applying over time. Every future development application is assessed against the DCP.

The Subdivision

  • A first subdivision was approved in March 2026, dividing the land into five lots. It's an early step in laying things out. One lot holds the employment precincts and the conservation land, and a further subdivision of the precincts themselves is expected in future, with its own assessment.

  • One of the new lots, around 1.5 hectares, has been set aside for a not-for-profit group home: long-term, affordable housing for women and children, delivered by Byron Shire Community Housing. It's secured on the land as part of the plan.

The site and environment

  • No. Independent assessment found the land is low-capability grazing country, around 80% in the lowest agricultural class, limited by slope, shallow soils and rock. Rezoning it will not meaningfully affect the region's agricultural production.

  • The site's ecological values were mapped and the precinct shaped around them. Development is kept to land already cleared for grazing, the significant trees and remnant vegetation are largely retained, and more land around the precinct is set aside for conservation and environmental management. Detailed ecological work continues at the development stage.

  • The site is bushfire-prone, as much of the Shire is, and a bushfire assessment was prepared for it. The required protection measures, such as asset-protection zones and safe access, can be achieved within the precinct rather than encroaching on the conservation land, and are resolved in detail at the development stage.

  • Flood mapping was prepared to the State's requirements. The developable land sits above the main flood hazard, with the lowest ground managed through appropriate finished levels. Stormwater will be held and treated on site, using water-sensitive design, so run-off doesn't worsen downstream.

  • A preliminary investigation found the land suitable for its intended use. The one exception is a disused, capped cattle dip, managed by a precautionary fenced exclusion zone, with the rest of the site cleared for use.

  • Assessment found the risk of conflict with surrounding properties is low. The nearest dwelling is around 174 metres away and screened by the lie of the land, and the precinct is limited to business-park and light-industrial uses, with buffers and controls to manage noise and access.

  • It's designed not to dominate. The working precinct sits on a relatively small footprint within retained rural and conservation land, building heights are capped at 11.5 metres, and the DCP requires setbacks and landscaped screening, particularly along Gulgan Road. The intent is a precinct that reads as part of the rural setting rather than a hard industrial edge.

  • Yes. Cultural heritage across the site has been assessed with Aboriginal community involvement, and the approvals carry protections into how the land is developed, including a cultural induction with the local Aboriginal community before any ground-disturbing work. Caring for Country is built into the DCP.

  • Yes. The land was part of a former dairy farm, and historical research found the main heritage sensitivity in the area is the historic Saddle Road route itself. BILS Area 5 doesn't affect it, as the employment land is accessed from Gulgan Road.

Access, Traffic and Servicing

  • From Gulgan Road. Under the Voluntary Planning Agreement, the developer will deliver a staged upgrade of the Gulgan Road frontage at its own cost: an intersection at the site entry, then a roundabout, and later a southbound bypass lane.

  • The precinct will add some traffic, but independent modelling found it manageable on the surrounding network. The nearby Mullumbimby Road intersection needs upgrading regardless of this proposal, and a planned roundabout addresses it.

  • The civil assessment found servicing realistic and achievable. Water can be drawn from the existing Saddle Road reservoirs, sewage pumped to the Brunswick Heads network, and stormwater detained and treated on site so run-off doesn't worsen downstream. The subdivision sets up access and service connections to each lot.

What Happens Next

  • Nothing immediately. The approvals change the planning rules and set the framework; they don't move any earth. Building only follows later, through separate development applications, each assessed by Council and placed on public exhibition.

  • From here it's a staged, multi-year process. The employment precincts are expected to be subdivided through a further application; then development applications for the actual buildings come forward, stage by stage. Each one is assessed by Council and placed on public exhibition before any construction, so there are further chances for the community to see what's proposed and comment along the way.

  • You're welcome to get in touch with any question, and there will be further chances to comment as development applications come forward and go on public exhibition.