Hostel sent packing

By Tania Martin
MONBULK’S controversial 80-bed backpackers’ hostel has been sent packing.
In a shock move the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) last week overturned the Shire of Yarra Ranges decision to approve the hostel.
In May, the council approved the proposal against a shire officers’ recommendation to refuse the application.
The officers’ report which was presented to the council on 13 May outlined that the proposal failed to comply with the planning scheme.
However, councillors disagreed with these findings and voted to approve the proposed hostel at 465-469 Monbulk Road.
The council received 88 objections to the proposal with nearby residents saying it would be detrimental to the adjacent creek.
At the time, Chandler Ward councillor Graham Warren said it was needed to keep the farms in the area viable.
But a group of local residents took the issue to VCAT and won.
Cr Warren last week told the Mail he was shocked by the decision.
He said it would now put added pressure on the region’s growers to find somewhere for the seasonal workers to stay.
VCAT member Phillip Martin said although he accepted there was an industry need for a backpackers’ hostel, the council had failed to support this in its strategic planning policy.
“If council wishes there to be significant planning weight given to the need for greater budget style accommodation in this region, then this needs to be built into its local policies,” he said.
However, the council commissioned the Centre for Agriculture and Business (CAB) to undertake a study in April 2005 into the need for hostel type accommodation.
The report found that more than 5000 pickers a day were working in the shire for six months of the year.
It also outlined that at least 1000 of these workers would need somewhere to stay in the region.
Developer, Jenny Van den Akker said the hostel was an opportunity to get something that was really needed in the area but the council had failed to support it properly.
“At the end of the day it wasn’t the objectors who got it rejected, it was the council who failed to have the study as part of its policy and procedures,” she said.
Mayor Tim Heenan said that in hind-sight the report should have been included as part of the local planning policy.
Cr Warren said the council would now have to assess the issues raised by VCAT and find a way to fix the problems.
“This is still so important to the farming community to have somewhere for seasonal workers to stay,” he said.