The Scenic Rim Regional Council will appeal the Heritage List status of the Beaudesert Pig and Calf sale yard, with only Division 1 councillor Derek Swanborough voting against this.
At this week’s Ordinary Meeting, Councillors discussed at length a detailed report addressing preliminary financial, compliance, and community impacts of the heritage listing of the Beaudesert Pig and Calf sale yards and resolved to action five motions.
Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen said that it is a balancing act between Council’s commitment to preserve the region’s rich heritage and character while meeting its legal obligations to address modern environmental, safety and animal welfare compliance requirements.
“Council will proceed with an appeal to the Planning and Environment Court and will review it as soon as more information is available, and withdraw it if appropriate,” Cr Christensen said.
“Council is responding to the heritage listing in a careful and measured way, and due to the short timeframes, an appeal is the most appropriate way to seek clarity on what essential upgrades and maintenance may be permitted to a heritage-listed facility of this kind.
“At the moment Council doesn’t have certainty on whether the heritage listing will preclude pig and calf sales in the future, due to the extent of changes required to make the facility compliant.”
Cr Swanborough argued and voted against the appeal.
“We should put money into it to make it a viable proposition. We are a rural based community, Beaudesert should retain its cultural heritage,” he said.
Last year it was previously reported on by another media outlet that the sale yards were going to be bulldozed, this was mentioned during the council meeting and a councillor was accused of writing to the media outlet about something that was not true.
Councillor Jeff McConnell said the issue had been made controversial because of this.
“At no stage has anyone in this chamber said that we will bulldoze those yards,” he said.
“The comments of Cr Swanborough saying that we will bulldoze it are incorrect.”
A recent engineering assessment referenced in the council report highlighted concerns with compliance issues with the structure’s design, water and wastewater management, safety (animal and human interactions), humane animal management practices, and facilities for sellers and buyers.
Under the current lease arrangements, the building does meet minimum structural standards to allow pig and calf sales to continue until the end of March 2021.
Two of the three motions acknowledged that further investigations are required to fully understand the implications of inclusion of the Beaudesert Pig and Calf sale yards in the Queensland Heritage Register on future upgrades, improvements and ongoing maintenance of the sale yards, and on the ongoing operations of the pig and calf sales and associated leasing arrangements.
In conjunction with the appeal to the Planning and Environment Court, Council agreed to engage with the community members responsible for the heritage application, to achieve an amicable compromise based around building a Beaudesert Pig and Calf sale yards heritage display.
The final motion passed stated that following the results of the appeal, if lost or withdrawn, that consideration be given by Council in the 2021-2022 budget for upgrading the Beaudesert Pig and Calf sale yards to the appropriate standards of building, environment and safety, as required.
