THE manager of Casuarina Estate, David Curran, says he will appeal the Singleton Council’s decision to reject his application to develop a caravan park on Hermitage Road in the Land and Environmental Court.
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At last Monday night’s meeting, council unanimously rejected the development application (DA 389/2012), which seeks consent for caravan/camping grounds and associated infrastructure, accommodating up to 137 sites.
The proposed development is to operate alongside an existing on-site restaurant, dwelling and tourist accommodation facilities including three short-stay cabins.
A report presented to the council at the meeting stated the “application fails
to demonstrate compliance with the objectives of relevant environmental planning instruments and, overall, would result in an overdevelopment of the site which would not be in the public interest”.
Mr Curran estimates appealing the decision will cost about $100,000 but is confident the council’s objections have been addressed in a number of reports he will submit to the court.
“I am extremely frustrated and disappointed as it appears the council has disregarded our reports,” he told The Argus.
“I have had an expert in the field, Bob McCotter, design the sewerage system and surely we are not the only caravan park not connected to a town water supply.
“Developing the caravan park is our plan B otherwise we will have to sell up.
“We are trying to attract people to the area during the week not just on the weekends.
“This is what they do in the Barossa Valley and it works well. It will benefit everyone as it is like a ghost-town along the Hermitage road on weekdays.
“If this doesn’t get up I will have to sell and at the moment the only interested buyers are Chinese.”
He says it is getting harder and harder for small operators, and some large ones, to make a profit off weekend trade alone and in the past 12 months he knows of five wineries that have been sold to overseas buyers.
Mr Curran points out changes to the Singleton Local Environment Plan 2013 that prohibit caravan parks on Hermitage Road were not gazetted until after he lodged his DA in 2012.
Vicci Lashmore-Smith from the Around Hermitage Association spoke against the proposal at the meeting and is pleased with the result.
“Our concerns are mainly related to conflicting land use, water supply and sewerage,” she says.
“In the proposal some of the tents and caravan sites were only five metres away from vines.
“According to Local Government rules, there must be a setback of 100m between any public building and vines to prevent spray drift.”
Ms Lashmore-Smith says they are not against the establishment of a caravan park in the area but it should be closer to areas like Singleton where the town water supply can be accessed.