What the council is working on
Recent deliveries, what's underway now, and what's planned next — drawn from the council's own plans, budgets and project pages. We report what the council has publicly said it's doing; every item links to its source.
The council's stated direction
Byron Shire's direction is set out in its Community Strategic Plan 2035 (endorsed May 2025) and a Delivery Program 2025–2029 with an annual Operational Plan and budget, shaped by housing pressure, tourism management and recovery from the 2022 floods.
The council manages local roads, waste, water and sewer, libraries, parks, beaches and planning across a coastal Northern Rivers LGA that hosts far more visitors than residents. Its Delivery Program is the elected council's statement of commitment for its term.
The Delivery Program funds the council's annual capital works program alongside major flood-resilience works (such as the Byron Bay Drainage Upgrade) part-funded by the Australian and NSW governments following the 2022 floods.
Underway now
Short-term rental accommodation (STRA) 60-day cap
Cap took effect 23 Sep 2024; transition period through 2025Byron has a 60-day-per-year cap on non-hosted short-term holiday letting for most of the shire, outside two mapped 365-day tourism precincts in parts of Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads. Hosted rentals (where the host lives on-site) are unaffected. The council introduced the cap in response to an identified undersupply of housing, particularly affordable housing, across the LGA.
Source: Byron Shire Council — Short-Term Rental Accommodation
Flood recovery & Byron Bay Drainage Upgrade
Ongoing since the 2022 floodsFollowing the catastrophic 2022 Northern Rivers floods, the council is delivering a Flood Mitigation Improvement Program, including a multi-million-dollar Byron Bay Drainage Upgrade (Sandhills Wetlands and drainage strategy) part-funded by the Australian Government, to strengthen the town's stormwater network.
Source: Byron Shire Council — Flood Mitigation Improvement Program
Planned / committed
Community Strategic Plan 2035
to 2035 (endorsed May 2025)The council's top-level Community Strategic Plan, setting long-term goals for the shire across housing, environment, the economy and community wellbeing; it sits above the Delivery Program and annual Operational Plan.