Baptist minister Stephen Tan is one of more than 1000 people in the Inverell Shire who have signed a petition opposing changes to camping at Copeton Dam.

Inverell Shire Council voted in August to downgrade the Northern Foreshores Caravan Park to primitive camping, taking away powered camping sites due to the cost of maintaining the sites.

Council estimates it would cost millions of dollars to upgrade the park to accomodate powered camping sites that comply with state government requirements.

Mr Tan has said he disagrees with council’s statement that the current changes would not affect those camping sites presently below the water level.

“With recent rain last weekend we saw water levels increase again out at Copeton,” Mr Tan said.

“It is estimated that a further 10 per cent increase would make camping below water level impossible on the Northern Foreshore.

“This would mean in the future only 12 camping families would have access to camping at the short side (Auburn Vale Side) of the dam.

“It is my opinion that this would cause problems,” Mr Tan said.

He also said the impact on tourism would affect the community.

“At Easter we saw approximately 1000 visitors come to use our dam and one-fifth were on the short side travelling into Inverell every day to buy food, camping needs and even extra clothing,” he said.

Inverell’s acting general manager, Ken Beddie, said council would always consider any petition presented to it by the public.

“Council has currently adopted a well considered strategy however,” Mr Beddie said.

“It’s a strategy that ensures continued day visitors access to the area and provides continued camping opportunities, albeit in an amended format,” he said.

The council fact sheet on the matter states the price of an upgrade of the Northern Foreshore would cost about $1 million.

Mr Beddie estimated a further $1.5 to $2 million could reasonably be expected to be required for roadwork and considers the expenditure could raise fees to an unacceptable level, which could make the Northern Foreshores an unaffordable destination for tourists.

In council’s 2011/12 budget Copeton Northern Foreshores Reserve ran at a loss of $13,367.

© 2011 Inverell Times

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