Long-time campers in limbo

Site holders worried about future

A CLOUD of uncertainty has descended over a campground on Tasmania’s West Coast as permit and compliance changes loom and almost 100 site holders fear they will lose access to their little piece of paradise.

The Macquarie Heads campground, about 13km out of Strahan, is a beautiful, tranquil spot where families and groups of friends have set up camps to which they escape many times a year to fish, go boating, ride motorbikes and relax surrounded by some of the most stunning scenery in the state.

Some have camped for 30 years or more under a system where site permits were renewed every three years and long-term spots almost guar- anteed. But they now fear a new ballot system will force them to give up their homes away from home or be forced to relocate every 12 months.

The campground has 99 lots with 96 occupied and several site holders have moved out recently due to the uncertainty.

Another 60 people are on a waiting list to get sites and the West Coast Council is keen to put in another 50 sites and a fulltime professional campground manager.

Having a site at the camp- ground does not come cheap, with the annual permit fee set to rise from $1100 a year to $1430 — much higher than the rates many of the site holders pay for their permanent homes in Hobart, Burnie and other urban centres.

Campers are nervously waiting to hear if their sites will be deemed compliant under the council clampdown and then if they will still have a site under a new ballot system to be introduced.

“We know we are lucky to have access to this beautiful place and we look after what we have got and have invested heavily in,” a long-term camp site holder from Burnie said.

“But at the moment the level of uncertainty means we don’t even really know what we are fighting against.”

Long-time visitor Christine Simpson had been out catching salmon and cod the morning The Mercury caught up with her at Macquarie Heads.

“It is a beautiful little community here,” Ms Simpson said. “Campers have put money and effort into making their sites comfortable, yet removable.

“But now things are in limbo as the rules change and campers wait to see if they even have a site anymore.”

The council leases the campground from Crown Land Services for a peppercorn rent.

It collects more than $140,000 in annual permit fees.

The lease is due to expire in

12 months and the council must be able to show the area is not a permanent shack site and just used for camping, picnic and public recreation, in order to renew it.

An audit of all sites has been carried out and campers are waiting to get notification if their sites are compliant — in terms of towability of caravans, disposal of grey water, the size and make of annexes, flooring, shades and site fencing.

Mayor Phil Vickers this week said no sites have been deemed compliant under that audit and, while most issues were minor and easily rectified, some camps are way outside the limits of what is allowed.

“We have to install some semblance of order,’ Cr Vickers said. “Site holders will be given an opportunity to sign for another 12 months and then have three months to make their sites compliant.”

Cr Vickers poured cold water on rumours locals were being discouraged from the area to make way for a tourism development.

“That would be a firm no,” he said.

In its most recent letter to site holders, council general manager Dirk Dowling said an offer for each site holder to take up a temporary permit would be made before the end of this month.

Those site holders will then have until September 30 to comply with the conditions of the new temporary permit.

A final audit will then be undertaken and site holders not in compliance will have to go.

After that a ballot draw for any vacated sites will be undertaken with another draw — for all existing sites — due to be undertaken before June next year.

“It should be noted that by allowing a temporary permit extension for all current site holders, council is not promising any future tenure beyond the end of that permit period,” the letter stated.

“Council is merely allowing for a transition to take place.”

Wynston Smith has had a camp site at Macquarie Heads for 35 years.

“Very few people in the camp would be compliant with the new rules,” Mr Smith said.

“We have worked within the rules given then but the goalposts keep moving and now people are unsure if they will even have a site in the future.

“It is the uncertainty that is the problem. I think many of the older people will just pack up and go and that is a real shame.”

A group of site holders has asked Braddon MP Adam Brooks to talk to the council on their behalf.

Mr Brooks said he recently met with residents of the Macquarie Heads camp area and had spoken with Cr Vickers and the Minister for Primary Industries Jeremy Rockliff in regards to their concerns.

“We will continue to work towards an acceptable outcome,” Mr Brooks said.