BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
ISSUE 1062 FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018
Ready for the relay
WHEN Erin Perry pulls on her Cancer Council Relay for Life guernsey every year it signifies much more than just raising a few dollars towards cancer research and memories of her father. It is also a reminder that nothing should be taken for granted. Erin was diagnosed with Lynch syndrome more than a decade after the unexpected death of her father in 2001.
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MOVING ON RELAY TIME: Alla, Erin and Hagan. Photo: ANDREW PERRYMAN
By SHARON KEMP
A $4.5 MILLION resort-style accommodation village will replace the Golden Square caravan park where almost 90 residents, many of them elderly and supported, lost their homes before Christmas. Plans with the City of Greater Bendigo show land owners Lococo Property Solutions want to build 122 two-bedroom houses for both long and short term lease on the four hectares of land considered premium because it is close to the city centre, public transport and within walking distance to the
Resort-style plan for caravan park
Golden Square recreation precinct. The road to luxury redevelopment at the High Street property included cancelling the caravan park lease held by Central City Caravan Park managers Christine and John Norman, after which local and state government and not-for-profit services stepped in to support more than 60 permanent residents into other accommodation. The caravan park had been one of the few remaining short term op-
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tions left for housing support service Haven Home Safe. It is not known what rents the new development will attract. Yet to be approved plans, submitted by planning consultants Spiire on behalf of Lococo, show the proposed lifestyle village, to be renamed Central Village Park, will include a club house with a bar, pool room, library, lounge, cinema, gym, sauna and steam room. The plans allow for a new lap
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pool, outdoor area and a bocce court, landscaping of Bendigo Creek and a vegetable garden. But the overall layout of the redevelopment will remain the same as the arrangement of the caravan park, and the owners will not subdivide the land. Also, the village will be able to operate under the existing caravan park licence. The plans say long and short term accommodation will be avail-
able and “the use of the land is not changing and as such, there are no permit triggers for land use”. But despite all efforts to ease the way for plans, they are likely to face hurdles around flooding and land use. A property owner in the area told the Bendigo Weekly they wanted the City of Greater Bendigo to buy the land and reserve it for recreation, a use that would fit with the development restrictions it faces because of flooding controls.
48-page Property Guide inside
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