GREEN LIGHT: Councillors inspect the Dan Murphy’s site on Monday.
ORANGE councillors have given Dan Murphy’s the go-ahead to open before the rest of the Summer Centre following a lengthy debate at last night’s meeting.
Cr Ash Brown was one of two councillors who changed his mind since the December meeting, saying the site looked safe and the liquor outlet had ticked all the boxes.
Cr Glenn Taylor also jumped ship to give Dan Murphy’s the green light, but told the meeting he still had “serious concerns”.
Councillors Scott Munro, Neil Jones and Reg Kidd all voted against the opening.
Cr Munro said a WorkCover staffer had told him they would inspect the site later this week in line with his concerns that council could be left in an embarrassing position if the site was found to be unsafe.
But mayor John Davis said the threat of a WorkCover inspection was a “red herring” as the developer had written to council saying the site had received a “clean bill of health” on January 14.
Cr Jones said he was concerned the developer was yet to give the council a traffic management plan as required by the development’s conditions.
Cr Kidd said he was not frightened by threats of legal action from the developer if the opening was knocked back.
But Cr Kevin Duffy said the opening should be OK’d because it met planning laws. Cr Ron Gander, Cr Russell Turner and Cr Jason Hamling also supported the opening.
