ANGRY owners say businesses will be forced out of town and Caramut Road will become a "dead zone" if the city council decides to close the saleyards.
In an impromptu show of their concerns, more than 30 business and community leaders raised their opposition at the The Standard office yesterday.
The group railed against the controversial plan to sell the saleyards and is desperate to sway a "no" vote at Monday night's crucial council meeting on the saleyards' future.
A special report released on Tuesday outlined options including the sale of the livestock selling centre site which would raise at least $9 million for council coffers.
Business owners vowed to have their voice heard before the ballot and railed against the city's administrators.
Business owners from car dealers, clothing retailers and farm equipment stores told The Standard that:
* Several Caramut Road businesses would move elsewhere if the sale went ahead;
* WCC administration had a vested interest in selling the site as it would make a significant profit;
* A proposed Cudgee saleyards would lose farmers in the city's west to Hamilton and Mount Gambier saleyards;
* Car dealerships said they sold an extra six cars and retailers claimed sales went up by more than 10 per cent each market day;
* Business supported the saleyards staying at its present site for a further 10 years.
City chief executive Bruce Anson said the saleyards operating at its present site was not in the medium-term interest of livestock trade in the region.
He said the Cudgee site was not final and a new centre could be established anywhere within 20 kilometres of Warrnambool.
"The regionalisation of saleyards is happening in Ballarat and Wodonga and it was only a matter of time before it happened here," he said.
“Council has to make a lot of difficult decisions and this is a tough decision but it’s in the medium-term interest of that part of the city to do so.
“Proponents want to work with the agents to ensure a new facility reflects what they need,” Mr Anson said.
Ryan’s Freighters general manager Mick Boswell said the business would move from its Coghlans Road site if the sale went ahead.
“Most of those businesses along Caramut Road were set up there because that’s where the saleyards were,” Mr Boswell said.
“No saleyards means no businesses in that area — the place becomes a dead zone.
“We’re really worried about the whole thing and we haven’t been consulted by the council properly.”
Respected Warrnambool businessman George Taylor said the mood against moving the saleyards was far stronger than what was seen in the late 1960s.
The retired retail identity said the loss of farmer trade to Warrnambool businesses would be long-lasting and financially ruinous.
“As a rule of thumb, Wednesday was always worth two business days given trade doubled due to farmer’s coming into town,” Mr Taylor said.
“There was a fair bit of opposition to the move from (now Swan Reserve) to Caramut Road but there was a reason behind that, this time it’s different.”
Clancey’s Menswear owner Peter Clancey believed the city council had not thought through the impact the saleyard closure would have on Liebig Street businesses as well as those in west Warrnambool.
“Farmers make up quite a large part of my business and I’ve got muddy carpets on Wednesday to prove it,” he laughed.
Warrnambool Toyota dealer Matthew Burgess, Callaghan Motors’ Steve Callaghan and Norton Ford’s Robert Bruce shared concern that vehicle trade would go to other regional centres.
To have your say on the Warrnambool Saleyards, vote in The Standard’s online poll at www.standard.net.au
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