Worker accommodation site in the Port Douglas pipeline

FNQ housing

Shaun Hollis

Journalist

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The parcel of land where a new worker-accommodation centre is being proposed.

An about 50-cabin worker accommodation park is being proposed for a former sugarcane farm on the Captain Cook Highway not far north of the Port Douglas IGA.

The development, if approved by Douglas Shire Council, would likely include about 50 powered one-to-two bedroom cabins, 20 powered RV sites and 10 caravan sites on about 4.2ha next to Crees Creek, according to a letter sent to DSC in late April by Hardy Town Planners.

There is also space for a stage two development on about 3.6ha nearby at a later date, with about 40 more possible cabin sites available there.

“The Port Douglas business community together with Douglas Shire Council and other state agencies have identified that there is a critical need to provide affordable and locally based workers’ accommodation,” an application document states.

These groups have been pushing for a space to house the many backpackers and other transient workers who want to stay in the region to work but cannot find affordable accommodation.

The planners stated that an application was approved by DSC last September for more worker accommodation at 9-13 Port Street as part of a redevelopment of the Coral Lodge, but worker accommodation was likely to be lost at Dougies Backpackers Resort and Pandanus Caravan Park if those sites are redeveloped into an upmarket resort.

“The approved development provides luxury accommodation and therefore the capacity of this land to provide backpacker and other affordable accommodation is to be removed from the existing supply in Port Douglas,” the town planner notes of the possible Dougies and Pandanus development.

The planners also stated the Douglas Shire Economic Development Strategy 2021 to 2024 noted the need to “address vital issues that continue to block economic growth such as the low availability of affordable housing, a shortage of local workers and the limited opportunity for higher paying jobs”.

 

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