Council decision forces Brooms Head campers to relocate

“This has been handled with the tact and courtesy of a French Submarine contract cancellation.”

A Council decision to remove a handful of campers from their long-established sites has been met with resistance. Photo Steve Otton.

A Council decision to remove a handful of campers from their long-established sites has, understandably, been met with resistance.

For more than three decades members of the Brooms Head Caravan and Camping Association would enjoy uninterrupted views of Brooms Head beach during the Christmas holidays from their reserved camping sites on the foreshore.

This rare luxury was the result of a 1987 agreement with Maclean Shire Council which allowed 16 campsites to be used throughout the Christmas holiday period, subject to conditions that these existing rights do not pass on to any other person or member of the family.

However, in early November, 34 years after the agreement was made, the 13 remaining site holders received notification that their rights to camp on the foreshore had been revoked.

The decision to revoke their rights was made during the October ordinary council meeting.

It’s understood the final concept plan for the Brooms Head Holiday Park redevelopment, dating as far back as 2017, included removing these camping sites and returning the area to public open space for recreation purposes.

“Unfortunately, those sites don‘t form part of the approved Brooms Head Holiday Park plan, they don’t meet the requirements, so it’s time to bite the bullet and move these people to a different location to camp,” Council general manager Ashley Lindsay said.

A diagram of the improvements planned for a the southern section of the Brooms Head Holiday Park redevelopment.

In an impassioned letter sent to Clarence Valley councillors on November 10, Association president Bruce Towner described the situation as an episode of ‘Yes Minister’ by effectively excluding the 13 remaining campers from being part of the Brooms Head Holiday Park plan.

“How did council leave us out of that process? There is ample history of our existence… you have been receiving our money for 35+ years,” he wrote.

“I must say that the sudden suspension of our right to camp this year has been handled with the tact and courtesy of a French Submarine contract cancellation.”

However, Mr Lindsay said the campers impacted by this decision weren’t being evicted, just relocated if they chose to stay.

“We have 13 sites vacant for them at the moment at varying times of the holiday season, with some powered,” Mr Lindsay said.

“Of the 13 campers, seven have already said yes, they‘d like to camp elsewhere and Council is currently working with them to make it happen.“

As for the six remaining campers, they have until Wednesday, November 17 to adopt an alternative site or request a refund for camping fees they have already paid for the 2021-22 Christmas holiday season.