Byron Shire Council’s Enforcement team has had a busy year.
In 2023 the Enforcement team received 4,378 notifications on a wide range of matters including parking, animals, camping, public health and illegal work.
From January to December 2023, there were 13,591 infringement notices issued, with a value of $2,672,889.
“The majority of notifications and complaints related to parking, dogs and animals and camping,” Sarah Nagel, Manager Public and Environmental Services, said.
“With an injection of $250,000 in our budget last year we were able to expand our patrols and the success of this is evident,” Ms Nagel said.
“Our officers have extended their patrol areas to target unauthorised camping and parking and people not walking their dogs on leads, or walking them in restricted areas,” Ms Nagel said.
“We issued ten times the number of animal-related fines in January this year compared to last year and we will continue to penalise people who aren’t doing the right thing.
“In addition, we issued 75% more camping-related infringements than the previous period,” she said.
There was a substantial increase in the number of parking-related infringement notices in 2023, with 13,076 issued compared to 10,869 in 2022.
Byron Shire Mayor, Michael Lyon, congratulated the Enforcement team on its work, saying the $250,000 increase in the team’s budget was a good investment.
“There’s no doubt that the staff in our Enforcement team have a tough job trying to keep our Shire safe for everyone,” Mayor Lyon said.
“No one wants to receive a fine and my message to them is that they won’t get fined if they respect the rules so please don’t blame our staff who are just doing their job,” he said.
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