The takeover of Killalea State Park by a state holiday parks body must not allow commercialisation to damage the site’s character, a former board member has warned.
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The NSW Government on Friday announced the NSW Crown Holiday Parks Trust would take over management of Killalea State Park early next year, replacing the local management body.
Member for Kiama Gareth Ward said that was the right time to make a transition to “full-time, professional management”.
“Killalea is too important not to have professional management in place,” Mr Ward said.
“The park faces a number of challenges, including financial sustainability, and the NSW Crown Holiday Parks Trust brings a number of benefits for securing the long-term future of the park.
“The Trust can achieve significant cost savings through its state-wide management systems and has a wide range of professional skills available.”
The move could spark concern commercial development may be the next step. Shellharbour Mayor and former Killalea State Park Trust board member Marianne Saliba said the outcry against expanded accommodation facilities or a resort several years ago was still fresh in the minds of many residents.
“My only concern is this: the Killalea State Park is not a caravan park, and it not a tourist park,” she said.
“If the State Government is going to look at this as a venue for raising funds it’s not going to happen.”
Mr Ward pledged there would be “no immediate changes to services provided at Killalea”, but could not say how long this “immediate” term would cover.
That, he said, would be a matter for the Crown Holiday Parks Trust once it reviewed operations next year.
“The park’s services are its open space … its vistas and its views,” he said.
“That’s not going to change. There will be no development at Killalea like that proposed by the former Labor government.
“I have no issue with revisiting the existing camping ground, and seeing if there can be improvements and investment there that might attract a higher-yield, low-volume tourist.
“That’s not a decision for me; that’s a decision for the trust. But I don’t want to see that footprint expanded.”
The NSW Crown Holiday Parks Trust is based in Newcastle and is chaired by businesswoman Wendy Machin. It manages nine state parks, and 35 coastal and inland public holiday parks.
The Killalea trust is finalising a management plan for the site, with the soon-to-be-abolished Shellharbour City Council.
Mr Ward said this process would be completed before the Trust was abolished.