THE Great Ocean Road Coast Committee (GORCC) has defended its takeover of Anglesea\u2019s caravan park more than six months ago, saying the resulting revenue is supporting projects not just in the town but along the coast.<\/p>\n
GORCC\u2019s decision last year to reject all tenders for what is now known as the Anglesea Family Caravan Park and decide to manage the park itself was highly criticised by community members, local businesses, the existing lessees and the state Coalition.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Friday at the sod turning for the Anglesea boardwalk, located about 200 metres away from the caravan park, GORCC chief executive officer Richard Davies again defended the committee\u2019s handling of the issue, which was found by an independent assessment to have met the state guidelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tenders we received were nowhere near the value of that land to the Crown and ourselves as owners of the land, so the board cancelled the tender process \u2013 there was no point pursuing it, the consultants said we\u2019d be negligent if we did,\u201d Mr Davies said.<\/p>\n
He said the profits from GORCC operating the park (which it formally took over on July 1) would pay for the committee\u2019s contribution to the boardwalk in 20 working days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe park\u2019s given us a great opportunity to fund further environmental works we would have found difficult to do \u2013 iconic projects like this, plus also investing in the parks and maintaining assets.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said GORCC also had a local purchasing and local employment policy at the park, and was putting about $1 million through Anglesea\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a good outcome for the park and campers generally, but the contribution that they probably don\u2019t necessarily realise is that they\u2019re helping to support our other core activity of coastal environment management.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said patronage at the caravan park had remained high.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 3,000 people stayed there last night, it\u2019s full, it\u2019s performing beautifully, it\u2019s had about 2,000 people through activities \u2013 probably the same children 100 times \u2013 but nevertheless, it\u2019s been a terrific first peak season for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last April, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said if the Coalition was returned to power, it would remove GORRC\u2019s board and chief executive officer, re-open the tender process for the park and ban GORCC from being an applicant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Great Ocean Road Coast Committee (GORCC) has defended its takeover of Anglesea\u2019s caravan park more than six months ago, saying the resulting revenue is supporting projects not just in the town but along the coast. GORCC\u2019s decision last year to reject all tenders for what is now known as the Anglesea Family Caravan Park […]<\/p>\n