THE developers behind a brewery and tourism development at Bulahdelah have appealed for further changes to be made to Great Lakes Council’s draft Local Environmental Plan (LEP).
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After successfully arguing, along with other interested parties, for restaurants to be allowed in Rural Landscape Zones (RU2), Brewery Australia Developments Pty Ltd has now asked council to change the prohibition on petrol stations on the Pacific Highway.
Down Under Brewery Resorts legal coordinator Ralph Kellar said the change would be necessary to move the brewery and tourism development forward and would mitigate some of the negative economic effects of the bypass on the town of Bulahdelah.
Mr Kellar’s vision was that one of the existing service stations within Bulahdelah would move to the complex and provide travellers with a place to refuel, eat and access tourist activities and information.
Rather than keeping travellers out of town, Mr Kellar argued the service centre at the northern highway exit would attract people off the highway and encourage them into the town itself.
Greater Taree Council is currently considering a development application for a service centre at Nabiac. Mr Kellar said, if approved, this would encourage people on the highway to continue driving rather than stopping in at Bulahdelah. He said this would have a flow-on effect for the economic prosperity of Bulahdelah, which (following the example of Karuah) may see traffic to the town decrease by up to 90 per cent.
Problems posed by the draft LEP were creating difficulties for the development of the brewery and tourism complex as a whole, Mr Kellar said, as partner Bluestone Property Solutions has walked away from the joint venture.
He said, when problems like this occurred, a joint venture partner would often move onto other projects, which would shuffle the current project down the list.
“It’s a matter of funding and timing,” he said.
Meetings are continuing with Bluestone on the future of the project, Mr Kellar said.
Great Lakes Council would consider all submissions on its draft LEP before it was submitted to the NSW Minister for Planning in April next year for final approval, manager of strategic planning Roger Busby said.
