The battle to keep a caravan park at the Sunshine Coast’s iconic Mooloolaba foreshore is not yet over … despite the fact that the bulldozers have already moved in!
When the lease expired on June 30, the Sunshine Coast Council wasted no time in levelling the beachfront park, that has brought joy to countless thousands of campers over many decades.
The Sunshine Coast Daily reports that the council intends to use the site for car parking during construction of a new Brisbane Road car park and then incorporate the space in some form as part of the its foreshore master plan.
While that may have appeared to be that … the Queensland state government has reacted to the outpouring of opposition to the van park’s demise … and offered a shred of hope.
The Natural Resources Minister, Anthony Lynham, has urged the council to give ‘serious consideration’ to amending its plans to include a caravan park.
“The Government recognises the concerns expressed by some of the caravan park holidaymakers at losing this site,” a government spokesperson said. “As such, Dr Lynham has asked that council give serious consideration to amending the master plan to include a caravan park in the final development of the Mooloolaba foreshore.”
The spokesperson said the Sunshine Coast Council previously advised the Department of Natural Resources and Mines that it did not intend to renew its lease over the land for the purposes of a caravan park.
However the site’s use post July 2019 remains undetermined.
The Government said it recognises the importance of the land for recreational purposes, and that would be an important consideration in determining its future allocation and use.
However, the Sunshine Coast Council has made clear it considers the Minister’s request nothing more than that and was not a condition to which it was expected to comply.
“Minister Lynham was advised directly by the Mayor some two weeks ago that the caravan park would close and it is council’s intention to return this beautiful section of the coastal area to the whole community – not have it locked up for use by a limited number of people staying in caravans,” a council spokesperson told the Sunshine Coast Daily. “What is interesting about this request is that many of the people who are opposing this foreshore area – which is on public land – are not Sunshine Coast ratepayers.”
Why can’t it be shared?
CARAVAN PARK GOES EVERYONE WILL TAKE THEIR MONEY SOME WHERE ELSE .business lose a lot . I would think about what more important for the area . we are losing to many caravan park
A parking lot? You have got to be joking! I am a local, and have enjoyed a caravan holiday in this park. Probably all the council is stressing about is the need to upgrade the ablution block. I hope they are voted out. They are completely out of touch with their community.
As is all local authority military. The plebs in council love the idea of having power over residents and anyone else who comes through their jurisdiction. I reckon because car parks are very thin on the ground in Maloolooba, council is taking the easy option. Also, councillors are not interested in whether closing the park will affect local trade.
As usual, councils don’t expand their minds to see the big picture. Perhaps being a politician narrows your focus to only being able to see short-term dollars, and not the incredible amount of money that is injected into all communities that have popular caravan parks. How these clowns had enough smarts to actually get elected beats me… more caravanners need to run for office!