Some would argue that Merimbula’s decline has been a long time coming, possibly dating back to the Victorian Government’s decision in 1991 to allow poker machines in hotels & clubs.
Almost overnight, the attraction of clubs in Merimbula that drew tens of thousands of tourists & millions of dollars in income for the town evaporated. The knock-on effect of that major change has gradually seen the steady decline or disappearance of many local businesses & a serious decline in employment as the town morphed into more of a large scale retirement village, seemingly stranded in “Supermarket City”.
While domestic tourism has thankfully continued to be the life support for Merimbula, council (BVSC) has done little to assist the town to grow & prosper, content to reduce parking while imposing more stringent parking restrictions, while trying to attract more commercial development from major retailers such as Woolworths & Aldi, knowing that both take big money out of the community & offer little in return.
In 2017, council destroyed the last opportunity for a green space within the confines of the town by effectively burying the old polluted Mobil Petrol Station site under its new by-pass.
Some would argue that this traffic monstrosity rivals the notorious Springvale Junction intersection, while having done little to alleviate traffic problems in Merimbula. Indeed, the association would argue that the intersection has probably exacerbated the town’s problems, reducing reasons for travellers to stop, in particular given the steady decline in available parking for visitors & locals alike.
Council would doubtless argue that it has done lots to help Merimbula, using ratepayers’ funds to facilitate the development of the major supermarkets in Main Street, such as Woolworths, while only succeeding in splitting the town, further damaging local businesses in the process & leaving what’s left in Market Street to cling-on in the faint hope they will somehow survive.
This year’s bushfires & the Covid19 pandemic have only quickened the pace of the town’s decline.
Once upon a time, Merimbula had its own pool, health centre, squash courts & a library, along with council employees working from a local office in Main Street. Those facilities served the community for more than 30 years before council abandoned them.
The library has since gone to Tura Beach, the squash courts are going to Pambula. There is no health centre & most of the council employees have long gone to Bega, save for the small cohort operating from the so-called Regional Learning Centre, which might soon find itself on council’s chopping block.
But Merimbula still has its pool, albeit full of muddy sludge collecting in the excavated old library site while Aldi decides if it will build its proposed supermarket or not.
Council has done everything it possibly could to facilitate that development, having granted the developer a no cost, obligation free option to purchase the site for $1.3M back in 2016 & acquiring the land at the rear of Club Sapphire to permit the construction of an access road to the proposed supermarket.
The Aldi Development Application was approved by the Southern Joint Regional Planning Panel more than two years ago in June, 2018, with four years having passed since council granted the developer an option to purchase the site.
Along the way, the association believes that ratepayers have contributed benefits worth as much as $600K to the developer & Aldi, while Merimbula still has nothing to show for that expenditure, except the loss of the above mentioned facilities & some much needed car parking, while winding-up with a big muddy hole in the ground & a ruined streetscape.
Word has it that a local builder was successful in obtaining two out of three contracts flowing from the development, the demolition & site excavation contracts however, it failed to secure the building contract after being told by Aldi that its quote was too high.
Needless to say, word also has it that Aldi came back later & tried to get the builder to take-up the construction contract, after it discovered that the winning tenderer had not included concreting costs in its quote. Needless to say the local builder is reported to have declined that request.
But at least Merimbula still has a pool as a feature attraction in the heart of town, for what looks like being a bumper tourist season when all the Victorians are let off the chain.
John Richardson
Secretary/Treasurer
Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association
Tel: 0264945669
Email: secretary@begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
Website: http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au