Approval struggle for holiday park

A HOLIDAY park has taken its approval battle to the Planning and Environment Court.

A resort-style pool is part of the refurbishment plans for the Turtle Sands Camping and Holiday Park at Mon Repos. Picture: Supplied.

TURTLE Sands Camping and Holiday Park’s owner has appealed to the Planning and Environment Court in its struggle to get a development application approved.

The holiday park next to the redeveloped Mon Repos Turtle Centre applied to the Bundaberg Regional Council to improve its facilities last July. According to publicly available court documents the council referred the planning application to the state government because the holiday park was in a wetland protection area, and the upgrades required high impact earthworks.

But the court application signed by owner David Baker challenges this, but saying the upgrades do not require high impact earthworks as it would not change the shape of the land, and it would not be installing a new structure that would change the flow of water in the wetland.

The document said Mr Baker appealed to the state’s planning department three times since last November to reconsider its position about the upgrades, although no final decision had been determined.

A review is due to be heard by the court next Wednesday.

In February Mr Baker spoke at a Mon Repos Turtle Centre inquiry, in which he said a struggle to meet various approvals was partly due to mapping errors.

Originally published as