Warrnambool City Council has put its 10-year foreshore caravan park plan on ice after councillors questioned the need for new cabins and “safari tents”, when the parks’ ageing amenities still need attention.
The initial plan proposed 17 new cabins and safari tents at Surfside holiday park, projected to cost $4.5 million, as well as leasing out Shipwreck Bay, which is only open 10 weeks a year.
What happened: Councillors agreed unanimously at last Monday’s meeting to vote on the Holiday Parks Strategic Plan by no later than the February council meeting, after agreeing more time was needed to ensure the upgrades at the parks addressed key issues such as ageing facilities.
Warrnambool City CEO Andrew Mason told the meeting the two holiday parks - Surfside and Shipwreck Bay - were a “key driver of our economy”.
Money talks: Both parks brought in $4 million in revenue in 2023-24 compared to $3.1 million in 2018-19, with Surfside bringing in the majority of earnings.
Sixty-one percent of overall revenue came in December and January.
Chamber confusion: When mayor Ben Blain called for a mover to adopt the new plan, councillor Richard Ziegler put forward an alternative motion that the plan be “shelved” so councillors could refine it before moving forward.
However, the motion lapsed, with Ziegler adding he “chose the wrong wording” when he moved for the plan to be shelved.
Councillor Matt Walsh put forward another motion to defer, rather than shelve, the final vote on the plan to a later meeting due to “uncertainty in the chamber”.
“There's clearly some reservations in the chamber around this piece of work,” he said.
The debate: While councillors agreed the ageing amenities and infrastructure at the parks should be prioritised for improvements, they had varying opinions on what else the parks required.
“Blind Freddy knows that our parks need some significant investment,” Walsh said. “My personal view is that we need [new] cabins. We need whiz-bang ones.”
He added the facilities are not “up to the challenge” of the parks’ “amazing location” and what they could provide.
Ziegler argued the plan should not reflect “the dreams of a consultant who has no personal knowledge of our situation”, and more money should be spent on toilets and green spaces.
“If we increase the cabin numbers, certainly the peak times will possibly give us a little bit more profit, but it also will mean, likely, that our occupancy rates will go down, [they’re] currently standing at 55 percent,” he said.
Councillor Billy Edis said he was “100 percent” behind new, accessible cabins, saying he’d choose the warmth of a cabin “every day of the week”, over a tent that’s going to “flap around in the wind”.
Councillor Vicki Jellie said she was unsure about adding safari tents and wanted existing facilities fixed first. She also voiced a Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club request for extra parking in Section N of Surfside where older cabins currently sit.
Now what? The holiday parks strategy must return to be decided on by the council by the February 2027 council meeting.
Header image: Warrnambool City Council