Caravan park protest gets heated

Coolum newsagent Lance Barrett.

MORE than 120 people attended a meeting last week to protest against proposed rate increases for Coolum Caravan Park.

Coolum newsagent Lance Barrett organised for councillor Vivien Griffin and council officers to meet with local business owners about the 22% increase for a July-August “shoulder” rate to take effect next year.

But local business people were outnumbered by holiday makers from Coolum and Cotton Tree caravan parks.

Mr Barrett said the meeting got “quite heated at times”.

He said Cr Griffin agreed to examine the “evidence” officers used to arrive at the rate rise.

“I think the council (officers) will find it very hard to convince her that the evidence they’ve given is fair,” he said.

“If small business has a problem with turnover, they have to work out ways of getting their income up.

“Obviously, the best thing is for council to improve their low seasons rather than try and load a 25% levy on the times that it’s nearly full.”

Cr Griffin said the caravan parks were part of a business unit for the council.

“The shareholders for the business unit are the ratepayers and we have an obligation to those ratepayers to make sure that we are offering accommodation on that site at competitive prices,” she said.

“If we did not have the surplus revenue from those current caravan parks – currently it’s $6.5 million – that would require in the order of a 3.8% increase in rates.

“Because the one council is now managing all nine Sunshine Coast holiday parks, we’re going to undertake a very smart marketing campaign.

“We intend to grow the business, not shrink it, and that’s going to be good for local traders.”