Tribunal quashes council's over-55s caravan park plans

A bid by a council on the NSW North Coast to turn a portion of a caravan park into an over-55s village has been rejected.

Clarence Valley Council (CVC) implemented a special condition at the Brooms Head Holiday Park that would have meant no-one under the age of 55 would be able to live in a permanent van.

It introduced the rule as eviction notices for permanent and semi-permanent sites were issued across caravan parks in Iluka, Minnie Water, Wooli and Brooms Head last year.

The move left some park residents fearing they would be left homeless.

Tony Everingham from the Clarence Valley Semi Permanent Van Group said the "unreasonable" decision would have led to people over the age of 55 living in cabins next to tourists with young children.

"Some of the decision-making at Clarence Valley Council … there's no clear or coherent purpose behind it," he said.

"It's not supported by facts; they make a decision on a whim and come back later to try and find evidence to support it."

This week the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) determined the over-55s rule was not "fair and reasonable".

Senior NCAT member Katherine Merrick found it would adversely affect the marketability and saleability of permanent sites.

She was also "unable to identify any clear and coherent purpose underlying the introduction of the over-55 rule".

"At different times the rule was said to be required by legislation, reflective of industry standards, the result of advice received from the CCIA (Caravan Camping Industry Association), or directed to the future character of the community," Ms Merrick wrote in her decision.

More cases to come

The rule also would have meant anyone who had a permanent van site would not have been able to pass it down to their children after they died, unless those children were over the age of 55.

Mr Everingham said the NCAT decision was a small victory, but there was a long way to go.

"We are still before NCAT with approximately 80 cases and we're in the process of trying to negotiate a settlement for some of those with council," he said.

"We will end up progressing with some of those cases right through NCAT, especially with the people that are going to be thrown out on the streets.

"We will take whatever action and go as far as we can to protect those people."

Seven cases have so far been resolved.

Mr Everingham, who was issued with an eviction notice for his semi-permanent van in the Wooli Holiday Park, said the group had several concerns about the decision to return the sites back to casual spots.

"On one hand, they were saying that all permanent residents in future had to be over 55," he said.

"And on the other hand, they were getting rid of the semi-permanent and putting tourist sites there.

"The effect would have been that it might have had two permanent residents, then three tourist sites, and then another permanent residence."

The council had not proposed any age restrictions on tourists visiting the park.

Former CVC general manager Laura Black said at the time that the move to issue eviction notices across all the sites was in response to the growing demand from visitors for tourist sites.

The park has 52 designated residential sites, with 30 currently occupied by permanent residents.