Splendour confident about Yelgun move in 2011

26 July 2010

by Jason Treuen

Splendour in the Grass was always going to have a new home this year but Woodford in Queensland wasn't their first choice. For the past two years, promoters Paul Piticco and Jessica Ducrou have been trying to move the festival to a new site just north of Byron Bay at Yelgun but that’s been delayed by council red tape and environmental concerns.

But there are finally signs of progress, even if organisers joke it’s now gone from “legal limbo” to “planning limbo.”

In the next fortnight, Splendour will submit their application to the NSW Department of Planning to hold the 2011 festival at Yelgun, a 660-acre site owned by Piticco, Ducrou and fellow promoter Brandon Saul since 2006.

“We anticipate that we’ll get a response from the NSW Department of Planning by the end of this year,” says Mat Morris, General Manager for the North Byron Parklands trust. “We’re confident they’ll recognise the significant contribution the project would make to the regional economy and in particular the creative industries and cultural tourism sector.

“Any significant delays with the process will render that dream impractical for next year, but we hope Splendour will celebrate its eleventh year as the first at its permanent home.”

Located 40 minutes drive north of Byron Bay, Yelgun will allow the festival to increase its camping capacity to 6000 people, four times that of Belongil Fields, the festival’s home for the first nine years (which has now been rezoned for residential use).

In 2008, the Byron Shire Coucil approved Splendour’s application to hold a trial event at Yelgun in 2009. However, the environmental group Conservation of North Ocean Shores (CONOS) challenged that decision in the Land and Environment Court, where it was overturned on technical grounds rather than environmental ones.

While CONOS still remain opposed to the move, Morris is confident that the trust’s own studies prove the event won’t seriously impact Yelgun’s environment and this application will be ultimately approved. “We’ve undertaken over two hundred days of on ground fauna and flora surveys and all data indicates that no species will be adversely threatened by the North Byron Parklands proposal,” says Morris.

As part of the submission process, Splendour’s application will be made public in September and Morris urges residents and festival goers to send letters of support to the NSW Department of Planning. “This will make a huge difference to the approval process.”

Visit the North Byron Parklands website for more info.