NOVEMBER 2020
     

Council backs call for expressions of interest

Dungog moves to meet pressure for new purpose-built caravan park

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THE small country town of Dungog in the Hunter Region of New South Wales may soon have its own purpose-built caravan park.

Councillors endorsed a motion from  Mayor John Connors calling for expressions of interest from people interested in providing the community with the facility.

The mayor told councillors at their recent meeting that he is approached at least once a month about the issue.

"COVID-19, the mountain bike facilities on the Dungog Common and the publicising of bike trails within the shire have all increased the number of visitors to Dungog," he said.

"With council still grappling with the infrastructure backlog, a commercial arrangement with a private developer/operator would appear the only available possibility."

The demand for caravan and camping facilities may have increased to now make such a development commercially viable, councillors were told.

But, Cr Connors pointed out, the council was not in a position to finance the building of a caravan park and camping ground.

Councillors agreed that the answer was to call for expressions of interest to see if was an economically viable thing to do.

The facility would be built on council land.

Local resident Tom Boorer wrote to the local newspaper saying the area, more than ever, needed a caravan park.

"The town has been in great need of such a facility for many years, but now with the numbers of folk converging on the district, all of them looking for somewhere to stay overnight or the weekend, the situation is urgent and growing," he wrote.

The only available camping ground within the town of Dungog is the local showground which has been unable to provide general camping since February, 2019.

It is now being brought back into service, with fees for the 17 primitive sites being collected electronically.

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