The Bega Valley Shire Council are proposing changes to their Use of Public Land Policy that will mean that Not For Profit (NFP) organisations will be forced to pay for the use of public land. If the proposed changes go through it will affect hundreds of local organisations like sporting clubs, chambers of commerce, tourism groups and other community organisations.
If a local community organisation wants to run a market, or outdoor event they will be forced to go through an application process, pay an application fee and then pay a fee for every stand or stall, for every day of the event.
President of Eden Chamber of Commerce Eric Wolske said, “Just looking at the cruise day markets in Eden, as an example. Council provides us with the space in Imlay Street commercial area at no cost (with retailer permissions and UPL application submitted). The Chamber charges stall holders $10 and this money goes towards supporting the Eden Men’s Shed and the Eden Whale Festival TV commercial. Council is now proposing to charge a $124 application fee and a $60 fee per stall, for each cruise day. A rough estimate of revenue for council in this scenario would be $16,000. However, council’s alternative pathway is for a Development Application (DA) to be lodged, and council have advised us that DAs are now lodged via the NSW Planning Portal. If we would like to achieve ‘a streamlined, fast development process’, council recommends engaging the services of a suitably qualified building consultant/designer/town planner to put our application together for us. This DA process, one that can take up to 6 months to approve and to accommodate 8-10 stalls will cost the Chamber almost $900 up front – a fee which we would need to recover before we can start to raise revenue to support other local events and community organisations. Notwithstanding, if the proposed changes went through, we simply couldn’t afford to continue to run these events & markets on council land which is not only a blow to local businesses, but also to the many talented artists and crafters and (cruise) visitors and our locals as well. We will also be looking into what impact these proposed changes will have on larger scale events like the Eden Whale Festival and our annual Christmas event, and all other sporting and not-for-profit managed events.”
This is not the first time this issue has been raised with the Bega Valley Business Forum (BVBF) opposing changes to the policy a few years ago. President of the BVBF Nigel Ayling made presentations to Council in 2022 and they agreed to waive charges under its Use of Public Land policy in respect of activities by not-for-profit organisations. But the proposed changes in the latest revision of fees states, “ Use of Public Land activities undertaken by Public Authorities (as defined in the Local Government Act 1993) and Registered Charities (publicly listed on the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission’s register) are exempt from Use of Public Land Application Processing Fees and Event Fees. “
This change of wording means that only Registered Charities are exempt and not, NFP’s like sporting clubs, chambers and other organisations. Most NFP’s are NOT charities so they will be forced to pay the fees.
Mr Ayling said “Our NFP’s are volunteer lead organisations, we volunteer our time for the cause and the community. When we run an event for the local community, we don’t stand to make a profit and if we do, it goes straight back into the community. It is bad enough that we have to fill out applications for everything and pay insurance, but to pay to use public land is just another cost that we can’t afford to pay, so at the end of the day, we may not be able to run these events in the future.”
‘We are calling on all NFP organisations and the public to oppose these changes by giving Council Feedback via their website before 11 March.” Just click on the link below and let them know that NFP organisations need to be exempt from these fees.
https://begavalley.nsw.gov.au/community/public-exhibition-of-draft-policy-use-of-public-land
