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Porcupine Village woes

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It was an announcement that was significant enough for the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events to visit Maldon in May last year: a State Government decision to invest $1.7 million in a development at Porcupine Village. The grant was earmarked for restoring the original village and building new accommodation. In return, Porcupine Village would create jobs for locals and attract more tourists to the area.

After eight months, progress on the Porcupine Village development has stalled, with works shut down by Council owing to lack of compliance regarding appropriate planning permission. The restaurant is the only commercial entity within Porcupine Village which is trading and open to the public.

In the meantime, opposition voiced by some local residents to the redevelopment of Porcupine Village is growing, with the sheer scale of the proposed plans being one of the main stumbling blocks. It appears to be unlikely that the passage of the Village’s planning permit application through Council processes will be an easy one.

The proposed redevelopment for the 5.8 hectare site is certainly an ambitious one. In addition to the pre-existing structures, it will include a collection of glamping tents, glamtainers (now there’s a new word of the year for the Macquarie Dictionary), a 38-berth caravan park, an amenities block, a function marquee, a wedding chapel and an amenities block. Furthermore, there will be a gold mining stream and dam, a swimming pool, a walking trail, a petting zoo and a wildlife enclosure. There will also be a sizeable car park.

The development will significantly change the nature of the present environs of Porcupine Village, which is largely a forested area that is part of Maldon’s historic diggings. Upwards of 90 eucalypts will be removed to make room for the development.

Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards said that the Porcupine Village project was a “big deal” for the Maldon community and she wanted to see it succeed. “But they must meet their planning permit requirements – there’s no question about that,” she said. “I believe that the majority of people in Maldon want the development to progress and proceed.”

According to Ms Edwards, grants such as the one awarded to the Porcupine Village developer must generally be acquitted within a three year time frame. On the rare occasion that State Government grants are not acquitted, then the grant monies need to be returned to the Treasury coffers.

“This hardly ever happens – it has always been a very unlikely scenario,” Ms Edwards said. “Unfortunately, Porcupine Village has hit a hurdle, but I’m confident that the situation can be resolved.”

Ms Edwards sees the Porcupine Village project as an opportunity where all the stakeholders in Maldon’s tourism industry – High and Main Street business owners, VGR, the Maldon Museum, the Maldon Vintage Machinery Museum, event organisers, accommodation providers and others – can come together to attract visitors to the region. “Let’s make Porcupine Village part of a broader offering, where people come to stay for awhile and experience all that Maldon has to offer,” she said.

The ongoing debate over Porcupine Village that has taken place on social media recently does not appear to have been helpful to the supporters of the redevelopment. Objections to Porcupine Village’s planning permit application have already been lodged, and the Times spoke with some of those objectors this week, on condition of anonymity. There were a number of reasons cited by those opposed to the development. They include insufficient transparency; the fact that some works have been carried out without permission; overdevelopment; lack of fit with the visual and landscape components of the area; removal of 90 trees; risk to life in the event of fire (only one road in and out, with the site surrounded by a high wire fence); noise; and traffic management.

There are also concerns relating to the fact that Porcupine Village, which is not connected to the town’s sewerage network, will be processing its own waste water. This will see a maximum of 35,000 litres of effluent per day put through a waste water treatment plant before it is captured and dispersed underground.

In the interests of providing a balanced report, the Times contacted Debra Baird, who together with husband Doug manage Porcupine Village. Debra did not wish to be directly interviewed by the Times, but made arrangements for a statement to be included for this article, to be provided by the Village’s consultants.

Unfortunately, the statement did not arrive by the Times’s publication deadline, but it will run next week.

Tarrangower Times 27 January 2023

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 27 January 2023.

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