By Jolene Ogle
Plans to hold a “food walk” along the Noosa River foreshore have been put on ice after council rejected the event application.
In a statement to the media, the Noosaville Business Association (NBA) said they had hoped to rejuvenate the foreshore precinct by holding a food-stall market along Gympie Terrace, but were disappointed by council’s rejection.
The NBA had hoped to hold a monthly Noosa River Food Walk made up of local vendors only, but council cited parking concerns and possible conflicts with existing food businesses among the reasons for refusal.
The NBA’s event application comes after the cancellation of a well-patronised food market trial in Thomas Street in 2015 that drew complaints due to market traffic taking up parking space, “outside” vendors selling food next to competing restaurants and a local trader’s takeaway service was blocked.
NBA president Jim Lloyd said the NBA were shocked by the refusal as they had developed the food walk event in direct response to the concerns raised with the Thomas Street markets.
“Ironically, the concept of the Noosa River Food Walk was developed in response to the feedback council provided about the markets and we worked very closely with council officers before submitting the application,” he said.
“We took on board all suggestions made by council and felt the submitted proposal was one which council would be eager to support.”
Mr Lloyd said the group established rules that meant only local food vendors would be allowed to participate in the event that would see food-lovers walk from one stall to the next, trying an array of dishes.
In the rejection letter to the NBA, council said the similarities between the food walk and the Thomas Street markets were “broadly noted” and while the food walk was a smaller scale, it was in a nearby location and “likely to create similar issues relating to low parking availability and objections from existing Noosaville businesses not involved in the event”.
The letter also said council didn’t agree that the foreshore needed to be rejuvenated as it is “highly activated on summer evenings” and said council planned to develop a Noosaville Foreshore Land Use Masterplan this year.
A council spokesperson said council was embarking on a consultation process to “gauge how the community would like to see the Noosa River foreshore area used”, but wouldn’t confirm whether complaints were received in regards to the NBA’s application for a market-style event.
The council spokesperson said discussions about better lighting and market-style events, as proposed by the NBA, would form part of the consultation, but didn’t say when the community consultation would begin.
“It would be inappropriate for council to pre-empt this process and approve the NBA’s proposal,” the spokesperson said.
“The proposed Noosa River Food Walk’s timing, commencing during school holidays, also presents parking and traffic management challenges, which will be discussed as part of the consultation.”
