UP to 200 additional people will be accommodated at next year’s Port Fairy Folk Festival after Port Fairy Consolidated School was given approval to set-up a “tent city”.
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Moyne Shire granted permission for the temporary camping site on the school’s adjoining oval located between the skate park and Campbell Street.
Up to 100 two-man tents, or an equivalent mixture of family and two-man tents, would be set up on the site for the duration of the festival.
Toilets, showers and food preparation facilities will also be set up on site and there will be parking for a minimum of 100 vehicles.
The school is expected to raise $10,000 from the accommodation, which will be limited to people holding a Folkie ticket.
According to the school’s application, the Folkie committee had highlighted a lack of low-cost accommodation, with the provision of a tent city seen as a suitable solution.
Port Fairy Consolidated School has experience with providing Folkie accommodation, with school buildings being used as “bed and breakfast-style” accommodation for 20 years.
The council has given the school permission to run the tent city for three years, with a requirement that a report into any issues, complaints, or improvements be forwarded to the shire within three months of the festival’s conclusion.
Moyne Shire received two objections to the tent city proposal, citing noise, street parking, access concerns, safety issues, and other matters as potential problems.
However the council officers found no grounds for most of the complaints, with a 24-hour security or staff presence to be maintained to ensure noise and nuisance is kept to a minimum.
Councillors unanimously approved the tent city, with Cr Ian Smith calling it a “win-win situation for Port Fairy, and especially for the Port Fairy Consolidated School”.
“Raising money is always a major thing (for) school councils and the general school community,” Cr Smith said.
He said the conditions on the permit would hopefully limit the car parking to the site, and not on the nearby streets.
“Parking on nature strips won’t have any major impacts from the tent city,” Cr Smith said.
Cr Jordan Lockett said any impacts to surrounding residents would be minimal but worth it for the $9 million-plus boost the Folkie provides to the community.
“I think we all have to make sacrifices for the greatest weekend of the year,” Cr Lockett said.
“It’s the biggest event in Moyne Shire … (and) $10,000 for the school is a fantastic thing.”