Why Byron Shire Council didn’t do economic analysis on holiday letting the NSW government asked for

The state government had asked for an in-depth economic analysis before it considers a proposal before them.

Byron Shire Council is still trying to have its proposed localised rules on holiday letting approved.

The Byron Shire's hopes to rein in holiday letting remains in limbo.

The council referred a planning proposal seeking to place a 90-day cap on non-hosted holiday letting more than a year ago.

But the state planning department later asked for an economic analysis to accompany the proposal.

The council voted in November to refer an amended proposal to the department for Gateway Determination.

The changes involved the inclusion of "precinct areas that permit non-hosted short term rental accommodation for 365 days in those areas that have already been taken up almost exclusively for STRA, and 90 days for those areas that have not".

The 365-day area was removed from the west of Tweed Street in Brunswick Heads.

Deputy mayor Michael Lyon said the council was still awaiting a determination on its short term rental accommodation planning proposal.

Cr Lyon said the council didn't submit the economic analysis sought by the planning department because they were not given enough time.

But he said the proposal itself had enough data to satisfy what the department was seeking.

"We've resubmitted our amended planning proposal," Cr Lyon said.

"We've indicated to them the format that they wanted the economic analysis done in was … just too much to do in the time frame that was allowed.

"But we have given them ample evidence of the economic impacts of short term holiday letting on the availability and affordability of accommodation in the shire."

He said he was hopeful the proposal would be resolved before a state planning policy on holiday letting comes into effect in June.

Otherwise, he said it would be "reasonable" for the department to defer Byron from inclusion in the policy until the local rules are approved.

"It's been very difficult to get all the people involved in this in the state government on the same page," he said.

"The concern for us is that we've been trying to regulate holiday letting now for several years.

"There's a number of things that we're working on that they're pretty much holding us up on."

Originally published as Why Byron Shire Council didn’t do economic analysis on holiday letting the NSW government asked for