Approval blow for McAdam Park

According to a report in the Geelong Advertiser, Motorcycling Australia (MA) has been dealt a savage blow as it tries to reignite McAdam Park near Geelong (Vic) as a major motorsport venue.

The report on August 19 said that the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) rejected an application by MA for retrospective approval for buildings and works earlier declared by the tribunal to be unlawful.

The permit application also included additional new buildings and works, including a two-storey clubhouse. MA now has two weeks to appeal.

Barrabool Hills residents have been fighting the McAdam Park facility for more than four years, with noise pollution one of the major issues.

According to the Geelong Advertiser report, VCAT deputy president Mark Dwyer and senior member Margaret Baird said they had to decide on the application before them rather than try to resolve the broader issues between the parties.

They were quoted as saying: "We have found that the proposal would not produce an acceptable planning outcome. We are not persuaded that approval of the proposed buildings and works and the new clubhouse, with conditions, results in the proposal comfortably existing in its physical context because of unreasonable off-site amenity impacts, specifically noise.

“We have not been provided with an objective or acceptable solution for how those noise management issues can be resolved."

MA joined a consortium, including the state government, to purchase the 300-acre  property --  which has been used for off-road racing since the early 1960s -- in 2009, but since then has been mired in legal wrangling. As a consequence, planned competition and community-based events have all been put on hold.

In his report to the 2013 MA AGM, CEO David White said: “The Barrabool property continues to present challenges. It is a situation where the benefit of hindsight would have resulted in a different decision from the outset.”