It is the second major blow to efforts to establish a kart track at Australia’s most famous car racing circuit, after plans to build one at McPhillamy Park were scuttled in 2021 over Indigenous heritage concerns.
This time around, Bathurst’s elected representatives voted in Wednesday night’s council meeting to reject the DA on the basis of noise impact.
The decision was far from unanimous, with councillors voting five-three to support the recommendations of council staff and an independent assessor to reject the DA (one councillor recused himself due to a conflict of interest).
Bathurst Kart Club had attempted to defer a ruling on the DA but that too was unsuccessful on the night.
Cr Ian North moved a motion for the deferral during the council meeting, citing concerns about the noise report, but that was also lost five-three.
“I do not believe the due process has been done properly here and that is my problem,” Cr North said.
“… I’m not dismissing that report, I’ve read it through, but in my mind I kept having problems. Other councillors said to me the same thing.”
When the DA itself did proceed to a vote, a slim majority of councillors – namely Mayor Jess Jennings, deputy mayor Ben Fry, Kirralee Burke, Graeme Hanger, and Marg Hogan – decided to accept the noise report from Outline Planning Consultants.
Said report stated that, “it can be concluded that the noise impacts predicted as a result of the operation of the proposed go-kart track development will be significant, and unacceptable.”
It also claimed that the site of the proposed 1000m track, which would have been located west of Conrod Straight and immediately south of The Chase Campground, was “simply too close to residential areas and to rural residences.”
Cr Hogan claimed she is not “anti-karts,” but rather is “anti-wasting ratepayers’ money and council staff’s time.”
She referred to the noise issues raised in the consultants’ report and slammed council for pursuing the idea in the first place.
“From a contentious mayoral minute back in 2020 that flew in the face of good financial governance, to repeatedly ignoring expert reports that flagged that over 200 residences would be impacted by noise, sadly this project has become nothing but a folly,” said Cr Hogan.
“An embarrassing, starry-eyed folly at the expense of Bathurst ratepayers, all at a time when we can least afford it.
“I feel desperately sorry for the go-kart club and I can’t help but feel that their closest allies in this chamber, despite their best efforts, have not served them well.”
The council meeting followed on from a public forum during which affected residents spoke out against the kart track on the basis of noise concerns.
Ironically, the kart track would have been near the Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit, although that is limited to five motor racing events per year.
As Cr Hogan alluded to, the kart track had also caused controversy because of the burden on Council’s funds at a time when it is in a dire financial position.
Just last year, it abandoned a push for a special rate variation of almost 70 percent and has since moved to sell off land in order to prop up its finances, with mixed success.
Some of those land sales were supposed to be used to restore funds which were borrowed in 2021 and meant to be loaned to Bathurst Kart Club but it has now been advised that $1.8 million worth was instead used to fix flood-damaged infrastructure.
Council general manager David Sherley said, reports the Western Advocate, “It is intended to reinstate this loan from the sale of Windy 1100 land, which has not happened as yet.”
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