Villa owners dig in at Clive's resort as water, power cut

A LATE night police escort, blocked driveways and no power or water.

A LATE night police escort, blocked driveways and no power or water.

These have been the living conditions endured by a group of villa part-owners at Palmer Coolum Resort over the past few days.

The precious last drops from their kitchen sinks were collected in vessels nearest to hand this morning after Maree Frecklington and her fellow part-owners realised the water was no longer running.

Their electricity had been cut since at least Sunday.

They were the latest developments in a battle between villa owners and Mr Palmer which dates back to 2012.

Coolum Palmer Resort villa part-owner Maree Frecklington is determined to remain at her property despite apparent efforts by management to make life very uncomfortable. . Picture: Stuart Cumming

Ms Frecklington and two other grandmother owners, who did not want to be named, detailed the difficulties they had been put through in the lead up to and since an Annual General Meeting for The President's Club, a body set up to negotiate between the hotel operator and unit owners, was held yesterday.

Resolutions put forward at the meeting by resort owner Clive Palmer's company Coeur de Lion and seconded by Clive Palmer included calls to remove the current directors of The President's Club and appoint Mr Palmer, his wife Anna and the resort's general manager Simon Stodart as directors.

The resolutions also called for The President's Club to pay sums of $1.2 million to Palmer Coolum Resort for maintenance as well as $800,000 to Palmer Leisure Coolum and Coeur de Lion Investments for costs of court incurred in a Federal Court appeal.

Those 14 resolutions, all signed by Mr Palmer, were ruled out of order.

The residents understand if Mr Palmer was to take over The President's Club, he would take over the long-term lease it has over their properties.

Two of the grandmothers called police later that night after the driveway to their villas was blocked by security guards when they tried to return from dinner about 9pm.

Police were called and were on their way when the women were allowed to proceed through.

The officers then escorted the owners to their apartments.

A standoff was again repeated this morning when the same two women tried to re-enter after leaving for a while.

A staff member and security guards blocked their progress with a car and then a golf cart for about 20 minutes until the women parked their car and walked in.

The guards soon left their post and the car was retrieved and brought in.

Ms Frecklington said the locks to her apartment had been changed before she changed them again in the past fortnight.

"We are finding that his hard line tactics towards three grandmothers and his employed security is just not acceptable," Ms Frecklington said.

"We've seen it and we know our rights."

She said she would continue to fight for access to villas during her allotted time and for the power and water to be reinstated.

"It is making my resolve stronger," she said.

Resort general manager Simon Stodart and resort owner Clive Palmer have been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Villa owners dig in at Clive's resort as water, power cut