A BID to reverse a council decision to grant a planning permit to extend the Willow Creek Winery at Merricks North failed to gain support at this month’s meeting of Mornington Peninsula Shire.
Cr Hugh Fraser put up a notice of motion to rescind the decision to allow the construction of a $26 million luxury hotel with 46 rooms and two restaurants at 166 Balnarring Rd, Merricks North.
He argued green wedge regulations limited patronage on the 18-hectare site to a maximum of 150 people at any one time.
Cloud Investments won council backing in late November (“Winery can expand – shire”, The News 13/12/16) to allow about 280 people on the site.
Crs Simon Brooks, Antonella Celi, Rosie Clark, Julie Edge, Sam Hearn, Frank Martin and Bryan Payne voted on 28 November to approve the planning application.
The mayor Cr Bev Colomb and Crs Fraser, David Gill and Kate Roper voted against the application.
At the council meeting on 12 December, Crs Brooks, Fraser and Gill backed the rescission motion.
Crs Hearn, Clark, Roper, Edge, Payne, Martin, Celi and Colomb voted against reversing the November decision.
First published in the Mornington News – 20 December 2016
