General News
11 May, 2026
Farmstay proposal rejected
CONCERNS about nearby aerial crop spraying and the loss of “rural amenity” were among factors to influence a council decision to refuse an application for a farmstay tourism business at Mission Beach.
The plan for a private caravan park had been proposed by a family on a 65ha property at Ohl Road, originally drawn up to include 30 van sites but amended down to 20 sites after communications between the applicant and council.
Despite being recommended for approval by Cassowary Coast Regional Council officers with several conditions attached, the application was rejected at the April meeting after Deputy Mayor Nicholas Pervan moved against the recommendation.
Cr Pervan said the proposal conflicted with council’s planning scheme and was likely to result in “adverse impacts on the rural amenity”. These included traffic improvements, noise associated with guests and communal facilities, artificial lighting, smoke emissions from communal fire pit use and the impact on the surrounding agricultural properties.
He said there were banana farms in the immediate vicinity of the proposed farmstay.
“I myself as a councillor, get phone calls today about rural areas – that somebody buys a house there, the neighbours spray, aerial spraying. What’s going to happen in 12 months’ time?,” Cr Pervan said.
“If we approve this today, and it’s a farm stay, and you’ve got the people that are staying there phoning us, saying, ‘oh, the neighbours next door are spraying bananas.’
“These practices have been in operation for 40 years. We can’t ask them to change what they’re doing. The land is zoned rural.”
Cr Pervan’s motion that the proposal be rejected was unanimously carried.
A senior planning officer told the meeting that council “needs to look at” existing and future planning schemes, especially in areas zoned rural.
“Because farmers are asking all the time, how can they diversify their property ‘to make more money than what I’m currently making?’,” the officer said.
He said it wasn’t big farms either, in Johnston and Cardwell, but a lot of small, rural lots.
Read More: Mission Beach