Lennox Head market one step closer to coming back
Council has agreed to offer the management of the markets to a well-established local organisation.
Lismore
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The Byron Bay Community Association will be invited to manage the Lennox Head Community Markets.
Ballina Shire Council took the decision in Thursday's meeting.
The licence agreement is to be renewed annually for a period of five years.
The markets could be able to start operating with up to 30 stalls.
The next step is for the council, in association with the appointed market manager, to prepare a development application for a larger scale market (greater than 30 stalls) at Williams Reserve, Lennox Head.
The council received no expressions of interest to manage the market last year, but two organisations approached the local government recently about it.
One of the was The Foragers Group, a company registered in Byron Bay.
Foragers Markets recently started operating Eat-Street, a Friday evening market in the Bangalow Public School grounds.
It also had roles in Taste of Sydney, Sample Bangalow and the Byron Bay Fine Food Festivals, Artisan Lane at the Sydney Tramsheds and Finders Keepers Markets.
The Byron Bay Community Association Inc. (BBCA) is a not-for-profit organisation, responsible for running the Byron Bay Community Centre.
The organisation has also operated the Byron Community Market at Butler Street Reserve, the Byron Beachside Artisan Market at the beach foreshore four times a year, and the Byron Twilight Artisan Market in Railway Park from October to April.
An additional manager will now be appointed for the Lennox Head Community Market.
The BBCA's Lennox Market proposal included a monthly (Sunday) community market on Williams Reserve, with 30 stalls initially, with expansion following the council obtaining development consent for the full-scale market.
A "homegrown handmade locals first" priority system will be used to allocate sites, with all current and longstanding stallholders of the Lennox Head Community Market given priority.
Profits from management of the existing Byron Shire markets, the BBCA operates a number of charitable programs to support vulnerable members of the community, which has included residents of Ballina Shire.
BBCA proposed to explore further opportunities to directly support vulnerable members of Ballina Shire's community with the council.
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