Bowral Garage building to remain Bong Bong Street eyesore

People travelling through the Southern Highlands will continue to be greeted by a long-abandoned building after bold plans to revamp it were denied.

A development application for the Bowral Spare Parts building has been refused. Picture: Google Earth

A long-abandoned eyesore in one of Bowral’s busiest streets will remain an eyesore after plans to revamp it were denied.

The Land and Environment Court has backed Wingecarribee Council’s refusal of a proposed four-storey building on the site of a historic building on Bowral’s main street.

The development application for the Bowral Spare Parts building on Bong Bong St, which was built in the 1920s, had previously been refused by the Wingecarribee Council.

Bowral Spare Parts building on Bong Bong St. Photo: Google Earth

The building was last used as a garage over a decade ago and has the air of abandonment about it now - and the graffiti to match.

The owners of the property, Bowral Garage Development, had proposed to turn the single-storey building into a four-storey combination of residential and commercial premises, including a cafe.

However, the council was advised to refuse the application because of a lack of parking.

In an appeal to the Land and Environment Court, the applicants suggested that patrons of the commercial premises could use 15 of the carparking spaces available in the basement.

However, Commissioner Joanne Gray ruled that the carparking scheme didn’t meet the Australian Standards and called the Plan of Management “inadequate”.

“The absence of parking … will cause an unreasonable impact on the limited available on-street parking,” reads the judgement.

“Further, the design of the basement carpark is inadequate and requires modification, which will create further issues with the shortfall in carparking provided by the proposed development.”