COUNCILLORS have rejected plans for a new caravan park near Brisbane.

Three hundred local residents signed a petition calling for the development to be blocked and were celebrating after Toowoomba Regional Council refused to allow developer Brian Carroll to go ahead with his plan.

He wanted permission to build a small caravan park on land at Highfields once owned by philanthropist Stan Kuhl.

His object was to provide nine caravan sites, six cabins, two homes, an information centre and a swimming pool on a 6100sq m block adjoining the 5ha Peacehaven Botanical Park, which was donated to the community by dairy farmer Mr Kuhl five years ago.

But furious residents claimed the caravan park would create a disturbance in the normally peaceful neighbourhood and would also be located on land where the late Mr Kuhl's home once stood.

They claimed the plan "mocked his generosity" and was against what he had worked for.

Planners decided the proposed caravan park would not be consistent with "good planning principles and did not meet the stated 'intent' of the residential low density zone".

Mr Kuhl, a member of an original pioneering family, was an avid believer in global peace and was actively involved in the initial design and naming of the Peacehaven Botanical Park.

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