The compulsory acquisition of part of Riverside Crescent (Lot 10 DP 116954) merely added that land to the Ferry Crown Reserve. It did not carry with it any legal right to use it as part of the operational area of the caravan park. The blatant closure of Riverside Crescent is a pre-emptive claim by North Coast Holiday Parks (NCHP) and North Coast Administration Trust (NCAT).
The former road reserve was 20m wide. Over 50 per cent of its width is grassed and joins the Crown Reserve along the foreshore (Part Lot 2 of Lot 102 DP 851964) to make up the land along the Brunswick River that has long been seen as providing not only public recreational space for both the general public and caravan park patrons, but also forming part of the walkway ALONG the foreshores of the Brunswick River to the Bowling Club at the southern end of Brunswick Heads.
It is imperative that this land is kept outside the operational area of the caravan park. A confidential report to the DOL in Sept 2005, page 30, reads in part, ‘the DOL could consider long-term commercial leases for each of the four (4) parks’. If this is acted upon, now or in the future, then it is critical, in terms of the ‘public interest’, that foreshore land is kept outside the operational boundaries of the caravan parks.
Furthermore, NCHP and NCAT’s management cannot be relied upon to give credible advice to the minister, be it legal or otherwise. Consequently, it will be up to concerted pressure by members of the community on Minister Don Page ([email protected]) to endorse in full the licensing conditions of Council’s 9 August resolution (Resolution 12.-627).
Patricia Warren,
Brunswick Heads
