Facility on the slide

THE operators of the popular waterslide and go kart track on Bundaberg Port Rd claim Bundaberg Regional Council wants to shut them down over safety issues.

Coral Isles Karts owner Vanessa Berthelsen is trying to meet council codes. Picture: Scottie Simmonds BUNLOS

THE operators of the popular waterslide and go kart track on Bundaberg Port Rd claim Bundaberg Regional Council wants to shut them down over safety issues.

But council planning and development spokesman Ross Sommerfeld said the council officials were enforcing a court order both parties had signed off on.

Vanessa Berthelsen, who co-owns the attraction, said the council had told them they could not run their two-stroke go karts, which were faster than their four-strokes.

"It's all costing us thousands of dollars and we're not getting anywhere because we can't run the two-strokes," she said.

Mrs Berthelsen said the council was demanding sound barriers and noise testing on the go kart track.

She said she and her husband bought the facility six years ago, and it had been running for a total of 16 years now.

"The most recent thing is the council wants all the things done by December 21 or we will have to demolish everything, including the waterslide and all the buildings," she said.

"We've been doing our utmost to comply with what they want."

She said they had been told the ladder to the waterslide tower was not complying with requirements, and they would have to build a staircase.

"A staircase would cost us around $100,000," she said.

Mrs Berthelsen said all the changes required by the council would cost them about $240,000, which was money they did not have.

She said she and her husband, who both had serious health problems, had no ability to get work anywhere else and nowhere else to live.

"We've sunk everything we had into this place, and now we've got nothing," she said.

Cr Sommerfeld said the Planning and Environment Court had issued a consent order to allow the facility to keep operating as long as certain requirements were met.

He said some of the requirements of the court order had not been met, but that council officers were working with the Berthelsens to sort out those compliance issuesCr Sommerfeld said the council had to make sure the people who used the facility, many of whom were children, were safe.

Originally published as Facility on the slide