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BRIGHT - POREPUNKAH - MT BEAUTY - TAWONGA - TAWONGA SOUTH Wednesday, August 6, 2025
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STUDENTS BUILDING FRENCH CONNECTION Porepunkah Primary School students (from left) Harrison Waymouth, Tanner Hinton and Frederik Pike enjoyed building their Eiffel Tower at the school’s recent French Day. Full story page 6
Thomason bags 16 in Bright win
SPORT
It’s no green light Council refuses permit for 14-unit residential development with cafe in Bright’s riverside precinct By JEFF ZEUSCHNER After more than four years, a proposal to develop a three-staged 14unit residential development with a cafe in the heart of Bright’s riverside precinct has failed to gain Alpine Shire Council planning approval. Alpine Spa Resorts Pty Ltd applied to council seeking a permit for the proposed development on two adjoining allotments totalling 4327 square metres of land at 1 Riverside Avenue and 4 Star Road in Bright. The Star Road block currently accommodates seven tourism units while the Riverside Avenue block
has a manager’s residence associated with the tourism accommodation. Under the plan, all existing buildings would be demolished and three new buildings would be built, accommodating nine two-bedroom, two three-bedroom and three fourbedroom dwellings, as well as a cafe seeking to operate from 8am till 10pm Monday to Sunday. The land has road frontages to Star Road to the west and Riverside Avenue to the south, and access to the Ovens River corridor and parkland to the north and east. Councillors considered the planning application at their
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monthly meeting last week. A report from council officers said the development was consistent with “planning policies relating to urban consolidation, housing supply, economic and tourism development, land use compatibility, and noise”, but was “inconsistent with planning policies relating to environmental and landscape values, built environment and heritage, riparian environments, private and public land interfaces, urban design, building design, and neighbourhood character”. Council officers’ recommended the planning permit be refused on 10 specific grounds, with general
concerns being inappropriate impacts on the riverfront and it not representing an overall good planning outcome for Bright. Councillors, with the exception of Cr Gareth Graham, voted in support of the recommendation. During public question time council was queried about the protracted time period of over four years, its apparent change from initially being supportive to now refusing the permit, and its “failure” to work with the proponent to get an outcome to benefit the community. Council director corporate and community, Nathalie Cooke, told
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the meeting council recognised the importance of the site and potential contribution the development which is well integrated into the (Ovens) river frontage and the landscape - could make to the community. “Council officers have worked with the proponents for a number of years to facilitate a suitable outcome for the site, but following extensive review of the plans that have been submitted officers did not believe the proposal’s shortcomings in urban design, housing design or interfaces to the riverfront could be addressed through permit conditions requiring amendments to the plans,” she said.