Mildura Council approves 24-hour Red Cliffs servo

RED Cliffs will get its first 24-hour service station despite concerns it is not suitable for the proposed Calder Highway site and a recommendation for refusal.

The servo will contain various convenience shop options, bathroom facilities and limited food options, as well as eight bowsers, 10 carpark spaces at the front, and parking space for 10 cars and two caravans at the rear.

It will operate 24 hours a day on land in the farming zone, which largely formed the basis of the recommendation for refusal by council officers.

Cr Jodi Reynolds said it was debatable whether there was a need for a service station, with a building floor area of about 333 square metres, was needed in the area.

“We need to have that established … we need to do a bit of research, we need to find out is there a need for something like this, and if there is then we need to find a place for it to go that’s not in the farming zone,” Cr Reynolds said.

“As a service station in a rural zone with no indication that this is required or needed in the area, I agree with the planning department that it’s just not appropriate.

“Let’s not be railroaded into these developments by people because they tell us what we need.

“Let’s satisfy ourselves that this is exactly what the community wants and needs.”

However, Cr Glenn Milne said the development, near the corner of Azolia Street, a short distance from Red Cliffs Caravan Park, was “appropriate” for the community.

“There is no other land in Red Cliffs where it would be appropriate for a large truck stop … there’s nowhere where you can fuel a B-double or a large truck, or safely park your car and caravan on that side of the highway between Deakin Avenue and Red Cliffs,” he said.

“We’re … just taking a little bit more farming land out for an appropriate development that will provide a service to the town and Red Cliffs township really has got nowhere to grow, except towards Sunnycliffs, at the moment.

“It would be of great benefit to the local community … this is the best place to do it and now is the time to do it while the land is there before you have issues with houses all around it.

“The quicker we can get it happening, the better.”

Cr Liam Wood said he had seen the township expand “exponentially” over that time.

“I have seen agricultural land being eaten up by more houses, the town has got busier and I just don’t see where another development like this can go,” he said.

“It’s not out in the middle of nowhere and the town will expand, that’s just the way things go.

“Especially during harvest time, it’s a hugely busy town and 24 hours a day, too — at any time of the day or night it’s a very busy place in those times, so that’s where I’m coming from and I would like to see it happen.”

Cr Mark Eckel said the council needed to look after the region’s smaller towns.

“We have to look to the future and look to the future from a business perspective and saving our small towns,” he said.

“Red Cliffs is expanding, but we have got to expand with our business and industry as well.”

An alternative motion to support the development was passed by the council.