Great Western is a small historic wine village with a population of approximately 400 community-minded residents in the Grampians and sits within the Northern Grampians Shire Council. On Monday 7th August 2023 council meeting council voted 5 to 1 to approve the development of a 59-room two-story hotel with an underground car park to be erected in the heart of the village precinct in Great Western.

The application generated some 40 objections (and many more who didn't formally object), which constitutes more than 10% of the population of Great Western and arguably the largest number of objections Northern Grampians Shire Council has ever seen. The hotel when full will increase the population of the village by over 30%.

In the 2004 Northern Grampians Shire heritage study referenced a proposal for Great Western to be a heritage precinct and noted more than 50 sites deemed worthy of heritage overlay including the building that is to be included in the development. The study particularly noted the single-story character of the village.

It is extremely questionable that a two-story building that fills 2 residential blocks in the middle of the historic village precinct (which is mostly residential houses) meets the planning requirement of having respect for the character of the neighbourhood. Neighbouring suburbs Stawell and Ararat which have populations 15 and 20 times that of Great Western respectively, have no hotels even approaching this size.

We aren’t against progress, we are against a development that will ruin the rural village character. If this development is completed, the old historic feel to the town will be gone forever.

Great Western has a council lead documented Future Plan which outlines how the look and feel and village character should be maintained. Council on Monday voted against the plan they helped to develop.

The planning process is broken. Councillors appeared to believe they have no available options other than to agree when an application that is referred and must approve the development based on the officers recommendation.

We are asking for your help to save the heritage aesthetics and character of the village of Great Western by contributing to the legal fees to take our cause to VCAT. We have been advised fees will be in the region of $25,000.

The funds raised will be transferred from the K Toomey account to our lawyers account that are acting on our behalf to take this matter to VCAT.

We will also accept anonymous donations if you prefer.

We have also set up a petition for signing, PLEASE get friends, relatives, children, everybody and anybody to sign the petition

https://chng.it/qsfqF9FdCf