Crs David Bott and Pat Bourke questioned the necessity of moving a motion into closed council allowing Reflections Holiday Parks’ more time to prepare their proposal for a long-term lease and management of Ball Park Caravan Park.
Australian caravan parks are big business, to the tune of $10 billion and rapidly growing.
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In today’s climate, driven by strong regional tourism and high demand for family-friendly holiday accommodation, caravan park acquisitions are booming.
Recent trends show major players like G’day Group / Discovery Parks, Tasman Holiday Parks and NRMA all expanding their portfolios, often with investments exceeding millions of dollars.
Rather than go out to public tender, Federation Council has chosen to negotiate with just one company, Reflections Holiday Parks, for the long-term management of Ball Park Caravan Park.
Ball Park was once the lifeblood of Corowa’s visitor economy, but to be brought back to its former glory, the park needs significant investment and sound management.
Council is looking to the park’s future, and hence Corowa’s future, aware the park lacks the infrastructure that modern, compliant parks need and guests expect.
Water, sewer, utilities, roads and amenities all need addressed.
Current industry trends show buyers targeting properties with potential to invest in infrastructure and expand, and there’s strong competition between corporate and private investors.
This week’s council meeting heard an application from Reflections to extend the deadline for their formal proposal to March 2026.
Council’s decision to negotiate directly with Reflections, rather than moving to a public Expression of Interest (EOI), was a strategic choice, according to Federation mayor, Cheryl Cook.
The decision was based on Reflections approach to council and presenting an outline of their model and examples of their work at parks across the state, considering most of the land at the Ball Park Caravan Park is Crown Land.
Ball Park Caravan Park needs substantial investment to bring it up to standard. In a booming caravan park acquisition market, Federation Council has chosen to negotiate with just one company.
Cr Cook said the council had considered inviting the state-owned Reflections, along with a market offer at the same time, but were advised by Council’s specialist advisor, that this could limit some bids coming forward.
“Operators in the market may feel they would be wasting their time until Council made a call one way or the other on the Reflections option,” she said.
“It is important to note that a public EOI process has not been ruled out by Council, and by taking this option first, Council can at least fully understand the Reflections model, before considering if a market approach should then be taken or not.”
The granting of the extension means Council will proceed with an Extraordinary meeting in March, where Reflections will present their final offer and terms.
“Council will then evaluate the proposal and accept it, or if the offer is deemed insufficient, Council maintains the absolute right to reject it and proceed to the open market via a formal national EOI process,” Cr Cook said.
The matter was moved to closed council yesterday with two councillors questioning the need for the move.
Cr Pat Bourke highlighted the importance to the community of negotiations over Ball Park and questioned whether there was a commercial problem that warranted the matter being heard behind closed doors.
Cr David Bott agreed saying the matter was important to the public and if it was not discussed in closed council, “that would be a good thing”.
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