Land locked

BRENTON Williams who operates his business BJ’s Earthmoving from a shed he rents on a farm at Leongatha North has called the South Gippsland Shire ‘anti-business’and wants to see more industrial land opened up to attract new business.

He says that a lack of suitable industrial land available in Leongatha is turning businesses to other towns to set up.

Mr Williams said that if his landlords put their farm on the market he is left high and dry.

He recently went in search of a block in the industrial estate and said that while there are blocks up on the hill none of them are suitable.

“They are both too steep and not large enough and if you were looking for a lot with plenty of exposure to passing traffic you’re out of business; there are none,” he said. “There is nothing of much value left.”

BJ’s Earthmoving needs a site for three trucks, a bob cat and an excavator.

“I have talked to other business operators around the town with the same problem who have ended up setting up in Wonthaggi.”

Another business operator with more than a dozen employees shares Mr William’s views, although for different reasons.

After 15 years in business, the shire council received a complaint and ordered the business move or shut down.

It was Peter Ryan, now retired but the then Deputy Premier and Member for Gippsland South who came down to look at the business operation and stepped in as a staunch backer of it remaining where it was, and saved the day.

Court proceedings against the business by the shire council are still pending.

The businessman, who prefers to remain anonymous said, “It is too hard to do business here.

The shire council is good at telling us everything we can’t do but nothing we can do.

“It has been an ongoing problem for many years and Leongatha is going backwards.”

The council’s economic development coordinator, Ken Fraser, said you only have to look at the new hospital and the education precinct to see such a claim is false.

There have been other movements such as Brown’s Stockfeeds and Landmark moving into new premises.

“There has been significant development in Leongatha.”

Of comparisons with the open arm strategy employed by the Bass Coast Shire Council to development in Wonthaggi, complete with a large new industrial estate on the eastern approach to the town, Mr Fraser said, “Leongatha’s base is very different.

“The South Gippsland Shire Council is not anti-growth; quite the opposite,” he said.    

Mr Fraser said the geography of Leongatha is ‘tricky’ with more sloping land and other areas low lying and flood prone.

The area earmarked for development as the next industrial estate beyond the Woorayl Golf Course is one such area.

The Bass Coast Shire is more proactive and go ahead and is attracting more and more business to the town the whole time in Mr Williams view.

“It has subdivided flat land with highway access.

“Wonthaggi is going ahead.

“Leongatha is going backwards, the shire doesn’t support growth.

“If a business such as Bunnings wanted to open in Leongatha, where could it?

“There’s nowhere for it.”

Following the Regional Victoria Living Expo in Melbourne in May, where the shire council had a presence thanks to State Government funding, Mr Fraser said council staff had spoken to about 60 serious enquiries, both residential and business start ups.

Asked whether any of these had come to fruition he said it was too early to tell.

“These are people making major decisions, they don’t happen overnight.”

One wonders how many expressions of interest at such an expo would turn to water or to another town nearby, once available industrial estate land had been personally expected.

Mr Fraser mentioned that a planning application to develop land in the vicinity of the VLE stockyards and Cervus Equipment at Leongatha South/Koonwarra is in the pipeline and if approved will boost the availability of industrial land particularly for the agriculture sector.

All downhill: looking for a suitably flat lot in the industrial estate to relocate his earthmoving equipment to in Leongatha, has proved unfruitful for Brenton Williams. Meanwhile Wonthaggi’s industrialisation goes ahead in leaps and bounds with the subdividing of a new industrial estate on the eastern edge of the town.

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Jul 28 2015. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry