Sold and abandoned: Homes gone to seed

SOME of the manufactured homes sold at the Kirra Beach Tourist Park for just less than $300,000 resemble abandoned squats.

KBTP committee leader Ray Bischoff has shown the Bulletin the sites where the homes are surrounded by weeds.

Despite this the council, according to confidential papers, want to make the only caravan park it owns the best in Australia.

“They (the council) won’t maintain the homes,” Mr Bischoff said. “They haven’t even rented them out. They have lost something in the vicinity of $10,000 to $15,000,” Mr Bischoff said.

“They could make shortterm leases there. They don’t know what they’re doing. It’s elder abuse to the people in the park.”

Area councillor Gail O’Neill believes the sites were not being looked after because it was not part of general maintenance of the park.

“I’ll get on to our council officers to get that request through (to clean them up),” she said. “They (the manufactured homes) won’t be there for a long time.”

A report to the council estimates camping and caravanning was booming in Australia providing more than $19 billion in the past six years and almost 50 million visitor nights in 2017.

Confidential sections of the report obtained under Right To Information reveal council’s plans to create “the best caravan and camping destination in Australia”.

“To achieve the strategic goal of world-class destinations it is important that an investment plan is developed for each of our existing parks,” the report said.

Cr O’Neill is acutely aware of the council’s plan and the impact it is having on residents, particularly those at caravan sites.

“I can see why council is committed to making it a tourist park, I get that. But this is also a longstanding relationship,” Cr O’Neill said.

“I really feel for those people (in the caravans). I feel they don’t have the same security and compensation offered. There is no intent to give anyone notice until June 2028,” she said.