MEMBER for Bellarine Lisa Neville has thrown her support behind the Bellarine Agricultural Show following council regulations that could put the event\u2019s future in jeopardy.
\nCelebrating its 30th anniversary next year, show president Janet Mc Donald said organisers were struggling with the City of Greater Geelong\u2019s (COGG) \u201cno tent peg\u201d rule.
\n\u201cWhile we fully understand the need to protect valuable underground infrastructure it seems puzzling that in a council fortunate enough to have many diverse community spaces used for many wonderfully different events, that a blanket rule exists, rather than a flexible policy that can be assessed on a case by case basis,\u201d Ms Mc Donald said.
\n\u201cThere still exists accurate local knowledge of all underground infrastructure at the Portarlington Recreation Reserve, and with this expertise, we have been using pegs for 17 years in these exact spots without incident.
\n\u201cIn fact, considering the proximity to the bay and the changing coastal weather it could be argued that no incident has occurred due to pegs being used to stabilise all tents.
\nMs McDonald said that under the regulations, 12-inch pegs needed replacing with a weight of 80kg on each corner of the tents.
\n\u201cProviding this weight will be financially onerous considering we need numerous tents, this will also add to the volunteer burden especially in the area of manual handling as men can only safely lift 25kgs, according to WHS rules.\u201d
\nMs Mc Donald said the simplest and fairest way to solve the no tent pegging rule was for the council to geoscan the whole area and show, not only the Bellarine Agricultural Society, but all those who may use it, where they can and cannot use pegs for securing tents and marquees.
\nMs Neville said any proposed regulatory changes for the agricultural show would severely impact the stall holders and have a significant impact on the planning for the 2020 show.
\n\u201cIt will also impact parking for the horse show which brings in significant revenue for the Bellarine Agricultural Show,\u201d Ms Neville said in a letter to COGG seen by this paper.
\n\u201cThe Bellarine Agricultural horse show is a qualifying event for the Melbourne show.\u201d
\n\u201cI therefore seek council\u2019s commitment to undertake the required geoscan of the site as soon as is possible to decipher if there is any significant underground infrastructure at the show site.\u201d
\nDirector of Economy, Investment and Attraction at COGG Brett Luxford said there were no new regulations regarding the pegging or weighting of infrastructure on city land.
\n\u201cThe requirement to weight marquees has been a specified permit condition for the Bellarine Agricultural Show at Portarlington Recreation Reserve for the past three years,\u201d Mr Luxford said.
\n\u201cWe expect event holders to adhere to all conditions on their permits when holding an event.
\n\u201cThis condition was highlighted to event organisers when they were issued their latest permit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MEMBER for Bellarine Lisa Neville has thrown her support behind the Bellarine Agricultural Show following council regulations that could put the event\u2019s future in jeopardy. Celebrating its 30th anniversary next year, show president Janet Mc Donald said organisers were struggling with the City of Greater Geelong\u2019s (COGG) \u201cno tent peg\u201d rule. \u201cWhile we fully understand […]<\/p>\n