Stuart McConnell, Council Director - Assets and Development

Murrindindi Shire Council continues to badly handle a problem of its own making at Glenburn.

Today, the Council’s Director – Assets and Development, Stuart McConnell, compounded the PR problem, by issuing comments that will aggravate many of the hundreds of local people who have signed a petition which seeks to allow food vans to continue to trade at the Glenburn Hotel site.

“Council is aware of community concern regarding Council action in relation to trading by food trucks at the site of the old Glenburn Hotel,” \Mr McConnell said.

“We are aware that two vans have traded from this location for some time, and more recently the number of food vans using the site has increased. This has triggered the need to look more closely at the site. Safe access to the highway is a critical issue at this site.

“We realise that roadside trading can be a great addition to a community – particularly one where there are long distances between facilities and town centres such as in Glenburn.

“But Council also has an obligation to make sure such businesses are safe and appropriately sited. State planning and road management rules restrict trading uses and access from arterial roads at this site.

“Council has been working to identify suitable locations where such trading can be safely conducted.

“This is not about any one business. Council contacted all of the food vans operating at this site regarding their operations. Our aim is to support those businesses to find appropriate locations where they can continue to operate.

“Another consideration here is the future use of this site. A planning permit issued for rebuilding the tavern on this site requires that building must commence by November this year.

“Council has been working with traders to identify suitable locations where such trading can be safely and appropriately conducted. We have already met with one business and will be meeting with another on Friday (March 15). If businesses need more time to enable this to happen then we are happy to work with them on that.

“We appreciate that road side trading is valued by the community and adds to the vibrancy of an area – Council has been working to identify locations across Murrindindi Shire where road side trading will add to what is available for residents and visitors and where it can be done safely,” Mr McConnell said.

Council critics say that the issue has become about the Shire and some of its officers asserting their authority, rather than finding a way to allow the traders to continue in the way that they have for the past six years.

“The Council continues to make a fool of itself. The only solution that the public wants to see is for the food vans to continue at the exact same spot that has worked successfully since 2013,” said one objector.

“Highly-paid executives are out of touch. They pretend to be locals. If they really cared about the local community, and local families, they would find a way to reverse their letter that tells local family-run businesses to ‘cease trading’. But all they want to do now is to save face.

“The Council has already voted that it is acceptable to operate a busy hotel from the site. To now argue that there are sudden road management issues means that the Council has been negligent for six years in not taking action, or that it is simply not genuine.”