Museum goes mobile to escape council laws

Alex de Vos
A man is building a “Sovereign Hill-style” tourist attraction on the back of a trailer at Moriac to beat planning regulations.
Ashley Reed started work on the project after Surf Coast Shire rejected his planning application to build it as a permanent structure on his Hendy Main Road block.
Mr Reed, who owns Moriac Sawmills, said the facility would include a showroom, a recycled timber and woodwork museum, a workshop and a café.
He came up with the trailer idea after his lawyers told him he would not need council approval if he built the museum on a mobile structure.
“Council originally didn’t agree with what I wanted to do but they were being a bit vague,” Mr Reed said.
“Then my lawyers told me to do it this way. If it’s a mobile museum, council couldn’t make me move it, they said.”
The qualified joiner and former Worldskills champion said he planned to open the facility in 20 days.
“I’ve just returned from London and I’ve got some great ideas I want to share with the public,” he said.
“People who drive past love my work and want to see more of it.”
Mr Reed said he would sell a range of original, handcrafted wooden products at the museum.
“I also plan to run woodwork night classes for women.
“It’s a great thing for Moriac – I’ll be providing jobs for the local community and using recycled materials to build the museum.”
Mr Reed said Moriac residents had backed his project.
“I left a petition at the general store and 2600 people have signed it,” he said.
“Everyone thinks it’s a great idea.”
However, Mr Reed still faces council red tape before starting business.
Surf Coast Shire’s Brydon King said Mr Reed needed planning approval “for any use of the land, regardless of whether (it) was conducted in a mobile or fixed structure”.
Mr King said the shire granted Mr Reed a planning permit for a dwelling in 2005 but he had not started construction.
Since then he had applied for another permit but the shire knocked him back because the “proposed use was prohibited under the planning scheme”, Mr King said.
The shire was investigating “current activity on the property”, he said.