Byron Shire Council has earmarked big funds for an ‘exciting’ project in its 2021-22 draft budget

The acting mayor said the council was “100 per cent committed” to a major project which would require them to seek grant funding or apply for a loan of more than $12 million to make it possible.

Senior Project Manager John Hart near Byron Shire Council's wastewater treatment plant at the Byron Wetlands. Behind him is the site where the council hopes to build a major bioenergy facility.

Plans to fund a bioenergy plant is a “very exciting” inclusion in Byron Shire Council’s draft budget for the next financial year, according to the acting mayor.

Councillors will consider the draft budget and are likely to resolve to place it on public exhibition at their planning meeting on Thursday.

Acting mayor Michael Lyon said the budget was generally “business as usual”, with some big-ticket inclusions.

Although this will involve $14.2 million being taken from cash reserves, the council is set to end up with balanced books.

Mr Lyon said this was “remarkable” in light of the impacts of COVID-19.

Byron Shire Council hopes to build a major bioenergy facility at this site, beside the Byron sewerage treatment plant.

“I’m very proud to be part of a council that, despite a pandemic, has managed to keep relatively balanced books and with a vastly improved spend on roads, which our community have long desired and expected from us,” Mr Lyon said.

“We are not running deficits and creating debt that way but we are spending money on capital works and were not going to be able to continue to do that beyond our ability to pay for that.”

Mr Lyon said the council would try to secure grant funding for a bioenergy plant proposed for an area at the Byron Wetlands, although the draft budget has earmarked $12 million in proposed loans for the project.

“We’re 100 per cent committed to that project,” he said.

“It’s a project which has become more and more feasible the more work that we’ve done on it.

“We’ve done a fairly thorough investigation of this.”

Roads will be another big-ticket item in Byron Shire Council’s draft budget. Photograph: Jason O'Brien

Of $61.86 million earmarked for capital works in the draft budget, $24.9 million has been set down for road and drainage works.

“It’s really important that the gains we’ve made as a council … and our willingness to spend on our infrastructure and our roads and to meet community expectation continues,” Mr Lyon said.

He said the matter of beach erosion was raised when councillors considered the Draft Operational Plan in detail at a strategic planning workshop.

“There’s been some conversation around the beach erosion issues,” he said.

“If that continues, if we continue to lose sand, if we continue to see our beach march backwards, we are going to need to be mindful that we need to protect the town.”

He said they were hopeful winter swells would bring sand back to the beaches.

“But I think we need to be certainly prepared that if that doesn’t happen, we may need to incur some expense,” he said.