Kenilworth Showgrounds applies for camping approval

Making it official: The park would comprise 148 powered sites and 33 unpowered sites, plus amenities buildings.

by Janine Hill

A VOLUNTEER committee has embarked on a costly exercise to seek official approval for people to camp at the Kenilworth Showground as they have done for years.

The Kenilworth Hall, Show and Recreation Ground Association has applied to the Sunshine Coast Council for a material change of use to establish a tourist park of 181 sites on the corner of Maleny-Kenilworth Road and Charles Street. 

According to the application, the park would comprise 148 powered sites and 33 unpowered sites, plus amenities buildings.

Shane Smith, president of the Kenilworth Hall, Show and Recreation Ground Association, said the approval was not for anything new.

“We’re just formalising what we’ve already got,” he said.

“We’re not adding any campsite. We’re not putting in any more lots. All we are doing is becoming legal.”

Shane said a previous show committee had bought a parcel of land next to the showgrounds and at the time, was told formal approval was not required.

However, faces had since changed in the council and given that another campground in Kenilworth had gone through a development approval process, the council required the same of the showgrounds for fairness and consistency, he said.

Shane said the development application was for a tourist park to be constructed in two stages but “we will never, ever do a stage two”.

He said expected it would cost $1 million to see the development application through, as it would mean work on site such as bitumen sealing roads.

It was money which the association would rather put back into community projects but 

obtaining the approval now meant the problem would not raise its head in the future, he said.

A town planning report submitted with the development application says benefits of the tourist park include increased foot traffic through town to enhance the viability of local businesses and market stalls, social interaction between residents and visitors, protection of natural assets on site, improved opportunities for visitors to engage in the Kenilworth area’s local culture, and sustainability of the show society.

“It is noted that Kenilworth Showgrounds is an existing Tourist Park that has successfully provided short-term accommodation for many years ancillary to the showgrounds use,” the report says.

“As such, it is clearly evident via the success of the existing operations that the site is well suited for the proposed use.”