Yet another of Australia’s most iconic beachfront caravan parks is facing a desperate battle to survive the march of ‘progress’.
Plans are afoot to re-develop the much-loved holiday park in the northern New South Wales village of Kingscliff.
Tweed Shire Council has unveiled plans which will see a rock wall erected to stop the serious erosion there, but it will also mean three-quarters of the tourist park will be wiped out. Much of the beachside camping area will be bulldozed and turned it into a park if the $22-million plan goes ahead. Remaining cabins and caravan sites will be upgraded.
The Gold Coast Bulletin reports that the redevelopment would mean the park would close for 18 months … and while traders, locals and holidaymakers say it will ruin the town, councillors insist it will improve it.
Councillor Barry Longland said the caravan park reduction would be offset by the new foreshore and parklands.
“It has been on the agenda for several years but severe erosion in past years has made it a priority,” he said. “It will give better access to the beach for everyone, not just the caravan park patrons.”
However, an online petition to fight the council’s plans gathered hundreds of signatures within days of being launched.
Surf shop owner Clinton Goodman told the Gold Coast Bulletin that the caravan park not only gave Kingscliff character, but was also a huge factor in generating income for the town.
“My small family business purely revolves around holiday time – taking away a good proportion of the park will have a massive effect on our income,” he said. “I imagine it would result in a lot of small businesses closing down as we rely on the busier times of the year where the parks are full, as winter in Kingscliff is extremely quiet.”
Work is scheduled to start on the holiday park and foreshore in January 2017.
On Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, an equally passionate battle is under way for the future of the beachfront Mooloolaba Caravan Park. An action group has recently been formed to fight well-advanced council plans to close the park. The group has started a fighting fund and hopes to have the historic park heritage listed.
Similar fights have taken place, and are taking place, all around the country.
* Should these beachfront caravan parks be protected as an important part of our heritage, or does economic reality dictate that their time has effectively come and gone? Comment below.
It might give better access for locals but will drive grey nomads away from yet another town. What do these councillors use for brains.
The Country, State and more so local communities rely heavily on tourism. Let’s not forget the the caravan industry is a huge contributor to the local economy or if you like tourism. But the tourism industry as a whole appear to be more interested in promoting international travel to and from Australian. Just look at the Advs in the national weekend papers for proof of this statement. The caravan industry have been over the years a huge supporter of local towns and hence seen the growth and success of the areas in Question.
Australia has been a nation of nomads since 1770 and will continue to be a force as per the huge percentage of people buying and touring this great country of ours.
So local authorities do the SWOT analysis and I am sure it will come down in favour of the tourism dollar in your area.
How about the boffin councillors go without their pay for 18 months? bludgers wouldn’t know what survival on struggle street means!
The park will NOT be wiped out by 3/4 of its land area! It will be reduced by approx. 1/3 to provide a central park that residents have long called for.
this is an absolute beat up!
Why would Tweed Council reduce the caravan sites to only (23 normal site plus 12 ensuite sites) 35 sites down from 176. That’s down to 20%. Where then do the families that spend their money at local businesses take a holiday(and their money). Anybody that can afford to spend $1500-$1800 per week to stay in a cabin or safari tent will simply go to Salt. This is terrible thinking for the tourism industry and visiting families of kingscliff. I honestly can’t see the small local shops surviving. There is more than enough parkland elsewhere that has been left mostly unused. What is the real agenda behind this?