The survival of a popular north Queensland caravan park is hanging in the balance with local councillors preparing to vote on its future tonight.
The Cairns Post reports that, in a shock move, officers from the Tablelands Regional Council have recommended that councillors vote to convert the 6.26-hectare Malanda Falls Caravan Park to freehold land and sell it off.
However, there has been a strong community backlash against the proposal, and there is still hope the park can survive.
Park manager, Janine Rielly, told the Cairns Post that everyone saw the park as successful, and it had an important role to play in furthering tourism on the Atherton Tablelands.
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“If this caravan park sells, what will that do for the businesses of Malanda who will go without those tourism dollars?” she said. “We will be at the meeting and I hope a lot of people can come … this is the people’s caravan park and if we lose it, it will never come back.”
Ms Rielly told the Post there had not been enough community consultation about the future of Malanda Falls Caravan Park, which has private access to the beautiful Malanda Falls and boasts powered and unpowered camping on both grass and slab sites.
The council says it is losing significant money each year on the park, but locals have previously insisted it is being well run by current caretakers and the economic flow-on into the local community is essential.
Malanda Councillor David Bilney told the Cairns Post that he had received more than 150 emails objecting to the proposed sale of the land and he would be voting against the proposal.
“If council is not listening to community sentiment on this one they never will,” he said. “I have an alternate motion to invite an expressions of interest (EOI)process for the lease on the (caravan park) for a period of 30 years and I hope to appoint agent who specialises in caravan parks to facilitate the EOI … I believe council will listen to the community.”
The Cairns Post reports that, noted in council officer recommendations, is an expressions of interest process would be run before a requests for tender.
“It is in the public interest to first seek expressions of interest in relation to the sale of the freehold land and associated assets,” the recommendation reads. “Council and the community have an interest in ensuring that any proposed developments compliment the town centre.”
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Very nice park and we were looking forward to returning.
Malanda Falls CP is our favourite. It’s central to most parts of the Tablelands & there are three sites that have some of the area’s best birds at the doorstep. If this sale goes ahead, the town will suffer – not even having the best pizza shop on the Tablelands would entice us back. Who are these people who are pushing the sale? Bean counters who have not enjoyed camping ever?