Caravan Park Accommodation Units Ready for Tenants

Published on 11 December 2018

Work on delivering 118 new beds and associated infrastructure at the Tumbarumba Caravan Park has been completed in time for the 2018/19 blueberry harvest.

Along with the water and sewerage works, permanent roadways, carparking, internal pathways, landscaping, and pedestrian lighting and a camp kitchen have also been constructed to support the accommodation units.

Snowy Valleys Council’s Mayor Cr James Hayes said the new accommodation units provide essential and affordable accommodation for seasonal workers and tourists in Tumbarumba.

“The accommodation increases the opportunities to attract visitors to the region, which in turn will boost the local economic development opportunities and I am pleased to see that the units are already fully booked through to February 2019,” Cr Hayes said.

Stage one of a two stage redevelopment of the Tumbarumba Caravan Park the accommodation project was plagued by delays and budget issues.

Acting Director Assets and Infrastructure Heinz Kausche said Council has since undertaken an independent review of the complex Tumbarumba Caravan Redevelopment Project to better ascertain what went wrong and to provide guidance on how to move forward.

‘The review included the overall management, procurement, development and delivery of the project along with key recommendations for advancing stage two of the project,” Mr Kausche said.

The review noted that the project had not been adequately scoped, priced or resourced prior to Council’s commitment of significant funding in 2017 and proposed a number of strategies to successfully complete stage one of the project and considerations ahead of any planning for stage two..

At their ordinary meeting on December 11 Council resolved to accept the recommendations of the review including funding the development of a new Project Management Plan (PMP) complete with fully costed options, risk management strategy, negotiation strategy and timelines before commencing stage two works.

Mr Kausche said work is now underway on reviewing and refining the scope for stage two of the redevelopment, which focuses on the improvement of the overall amenity of the park, and that completion of the PMP is scheduled for January 2019.

“Once developed and approved in consultation with community and stake holders, the PMP will set the scene for delivering a successful stage two project,” Mr Kausche said. “We acknowledge the inconsistences and issues that hindered the delivery of stage one and want to ensure that these are not repeated in stage two”.

The original 2016 budget set for both stage one and stage two of the caravan park project was $2,037,000 which included $1,040,000 funding through the NSW Government’s Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development.

In April 2018 Council resolved to endorse reallocating the amount apportioned to stage two of the project to completing the works on the accommodation units (stage one).

Mr Kausche said Council anticipated the total stage one project to be delivered for an estimated $2.69 million dollars, approximately $653,000 over the original budget.

“There are definitely lessons to be learnt from this project which can be largely attributed to early political pressures and entering into the delivery phase without proper costings and planning,” Mr Kausche explained.

The delivery of stage two works will require grant funding from either the NSW State or Federal Government.

“Regardless of when stage two works are undertaken, the Tumbarumba community are already reaping the benefits of a significantly improved tourism and economic asset with the finalisation of stage one of the caravan park,” Mr Kausche said.