The plan to rejuvenate Seppeltsfield has been delayed with council requiring more community consultation on the proposal before giving its approval.
Seppeltsfield Estate Trust (SET) has lodged plans with Light Regional Council (LRC) to have the historic Seppeltsfield Winery revitalised to target tourism, education and arts.
LRC considered a statement of intent for the proposal at its meeting last Tuesday, but decided not to pass it to the Planning minister, instead, asking the applicants to undertake more community consultation.
Council was to consider the document at its December meeting, but deferred making a decision when councillors found they were not given enough time to fully comprehend the document after receiving it the night before the meeting.
LRC mayor Bill O’Brien said he believed it was not unreasonable for council to suggest the SET undertake a “more robust consultation process”.
“This council here is not just going to say ‘that sounds like a good idea, go ahead and do it’,” he said.
“We need to see the concept plan, not just whispers around the place.
“The public consultation process really needs to be absolutely robust and it hasn’t been, and I don’t think they could, in all honesty, say that it has.”
Mr O’Brien said while the vision statement has been reasonably public, it is still not a plan council would submit to the minister.
“The statement of intent is a little bit more down the track,” he said.
“When you think of the Roseworthy project for example, the minister hasn’t signed off on the statement of intent for that yet, and that is into the second stage, which is the infrastructure stage. Why would the minister sign off on a statement of intent when there is not a concept plan?”
Mr O’Brien said he understood many people wanted to see the winery revitalised, but the effect on the surrounding area had been creating concerns that have not been addressed.
“We want to make it very clear, this council is certainly not against development, but the consultation process has to be absolutely robust and it has to produce the best result for all concerned,” he said.
Bruce Baudinet from the Seppeltsfield Estate Trust said extensive consultation had already taken place, but council’s decision would bring detailed consultation to an earlier stage in the planning process.
“We are very happy to be working with council in that regard, so it is just a matter of working through the DPA process that we are in,” he said.
“At this stage it is only the statement of intent stage, there is not very much to show at this stage, it is more vision and intent, but as the whole process moves forward it just gets more and more detail.
“We are there for the long term and we saw this initially as a ten year plan, but it is more like 100-year plan.
“We have got a vision for one of the great wine estates of the world, and it doesn’t happen overnight.”
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