SUPER PLANS FOR BOWLING A TOWN OVER
Woolworths fires up proposal for environmentally sustainable supermarket project at former bowls and sports club site in Murwillumbah to bring in 200 jobs
SUPERMARKET giant Woolworths, six years after signalling its ambitions, has fired up its plans to ‘bowl’ into the riverside town of Murwillumbah.
Woolworths is proposing a fullline supermarket, with a drivethrough and pick-up facility, on the site of the defunct Murwillumbah Bowls and Sports Club.
The 1.14ha site is on the corner of Brisbane and Condong streets, 350m from Murwillumbah’s Main St. The property, put under conditional contract by Woolworths in 2014 and bought for $2.5 million in 2018, is zoned for recreational and residential use and will require rezoning to develop a supermarket.
Chris Sheehan, Woolworths NSW property development manager, said the planned supermarket would create more than 200 jobs, including around 60 construction jobs and 170 ongoing retail jobs.
He said Woolworths would look to deliver an environmentally sustainable project that would achieve a minimum four-star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia, with features including rainwater harvesting, solar panels, recycled materials and initiatives in waste and energy reduction.
“We appreciate there has been strong community interest in our proposed development and it’s important we get it right. We will shortly be engaging with the community over our plans for this site,” Mr Sheehan said.
The Murwillumbah Bowls and Sports Club was struggling in 2010 and approached the Murwillumbah Services Club seeking a lifeline, a move that saw the clubs merge.
The club was closed in 2012 when it became clear that it no longer was viable. The services club put the club’s property on the market in 2014 and Woolworths stepped forward.
A submission for a rezoning was put to the Tweed council and unanimously refused, despite council planners supporting it. An attempt in 2015 by Woolies to get that decision reviewed via the NSW Government’s planning hierarchy was opposed by the Tweed council and failed.
By early 2018 Woolworths decided to make its contract on the bowls club site unconditional.