Horsham Caravan Park: long-term lease on offer

Expressions of interest sought

Park lease offers 'unique opportunity'

Have your say

HORSHAM Rural City Council in Victoria is seeking expressions of interest for the long-term lease of its 130-site caravan park.

Council economic and business development manager Colin Kemp said the authority had been "working diligently" for a year investigating future options and opportunities for developing and managing the park.

"After consideration of options, council has resolved to seek expressions of interest for a long-term lease of the caravan park," he said.

The caravan park is located on Crown Land and overseen by the council as the Committee of Management.

In March last year, the council appointed consultants to develop a vision for the park.

Their report concluded that future redevelopment presented an "exciting opportunity" for the council and broader community.

"The park currently attracts reasonable visitation from older couples and family groups, although this is mainly limited to overnight stays," it said.

"The potential exists to increase both the number of visitors and also the length of stay through a staged redevelopment of the park."

Director of planning and economic development Tony Bawden said the council was seeking a process that would enable private capital investment and long-term professional management.

"Council has not had the financial capacity to develop a high quality park, nor the specialist management and marketing expertise," he said.

"The Development Vision provides interested parties with a blueprint guide for appropriate sustainable development of the Horsham Caravan Park and capital expenditure expectations.

"The EOI (expressions of interest) seeks to conserve and maintain the unique natural environment of the park within the wider Botanical Gardens Reserve while providing a modern range of accommodation and facilities for campers and caravanners."

The council believed it offered "a unique opportunity" for tenants to further develop and operate the well positioned park with river frontage near the CBD.

Expressions of interest close at 5pm on Friday, 21 November.

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