Torquay camping proposal revised

Alex de Vos
Campers have told authorities to go back to the drawing board on plans for a $5 million upgrade of Torquay’s public caravan park amid fears they could lose their long-held sites.
Torquay Concerned Campers Association president David Whiting said the group had demanded “clarification” on the proposed design during a meeting with Great Ocean Road Coast Committee, which manages the park.
“We’re in a fair amount of agreement, there are just a few things on the plan we’re concerned about,” he said.
“We raised a number of issues and we asked for some clarification on the financial side of things like whether they stack up.”
Coast committee executive director David Clarke said he would present a new design to the campers.
“We need to revisit some of the issues the committee raised,” he said.
“Some of the issues raised included finances and staging of the works.”
Mr Clarke said the campers had played an “active role” throughout the “$350,000 planning process”.
The committee released a master plan to upgrade the caravan park earlier this year.
The plan included 25 new cabins and several new roads but relocated or abolished some camping spaces.
Mr Clarke said the committee would use a ballot system to allocate new sites to campers who would lose sites under the upgrade.
In January the campers formed a committee to fight the project.
Torquay Concerned Campers Association’s former president Russell Harper said after the release of the master plan the committee supported many of the proposals, including improvements to amenities and sullage and natural gas connections.
“But we don’t want to lose our sites and change the feel of the caravan park,” Mr Harper said.