Bendigo council knocks back Golden Square pony club petition

They will not intercede to stop Bendigo Foodshare sticking a warehouse on the land at 1-5 Belle Vue Road.

Forty-one petitioners had called for the council to "retain our historical community park with NO building development".

The pony club is all for the change up as long as it gets help moving out to a new site in Goornong.

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Along with the petition, the council received 17 letters of support for the move, and one opposed.

That objector has a nearby property and is concerned about the noise of a cool room and floodlighting, as well as the paths that trucks and forklifts might use.

Councillors this week agreed the warehouse would be "critical for Bendigo Foodshare's operations with the pandemic and rise in cost of living further increasing our communities [sic] need for support to access food relief", as their officers described it ahead of the vote.

Councillors voted unanimously to reject the petition.

That did not stop a succession of councillors raising concerns about public consultations and hoping for improvements in the future.

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Cr David Fagg called the process "substandard" while Cr Matthew Evans said everyone involved could take lessons away from the experience.

Cr Rod Fyffe said he knew of three objectors who had been confused by the exact location the warehouse had been proposed for.

"There has been mixed messages," he said.

"Some were coming from Council, some from Bendigo Foodshare, some from the community and some from any conspiracy theory [some people] could find."

Bendigo Foodshare only wants 15 per cent of the Golden Square site, with much left over for continued community use.

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