The report given to councillors found the food van plan would face “a range of clear challenges”. Photo: DragonImages/Envato.
It’s back to the drawing board after a bid to create a new foodie attraction in southern NSW was taken off the table.
Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) was investigating the creation of a mobile food van hub on council-owned land at Morriset Street.
The former nursery site near Queanbeyan’s CBD has been vacant since about 2011, council documents state.
Councillors supported the mobile food van hub in principle in late 2024, when they called for a feasibility study into the proposal.
That report has found the hub would be “unlikely to be approved”, would face planning challenges, need investment to ‘beautify’ the site and require consultation (including a trial period) to judge demand.
Community engagement would also need to wait until at least mid-2026, when the long-awaited upgrades to Monaro Street finish.
During a recent meeting, councillor Morgan Broadbent said the proposal hadn’t struck the right balance.
“I think the idea of having a mobile food van so close to what is our primary street for providing these kinds of services, in a fixed location, gave some of those small businesses great concern, I would say.
“I guess that’s a pretty good indicator for me that it’s not quite the right fit.”
Councillor Mareeta Grundy also labelled the proposal as “fanciful”.
But councillor Katrina Willis felt the site might have attracted a different crowd to the town.
“I actually think this would have been a very different sort of offering to stores, and targeted at a different group of people – [those] who can afford to spend $80 or $60 each for a meal in a restaurant in Queanbeyan,” she said.
The feasibility report states annual costs were estimated at $46,500, while fees and charges from the vans could bring in $60,000 to $90,000 a year.
It also raised the need for a public bathroom and the “irregular” public transport as things that could impact the hub’s viability.
Councillor Willis put forward a suggestion for a very familiar use for the site – a nursery – and a social enterprise.
“It’s quite astonishing that a town or city of this size has no local nursery,” she said.
“I would like the staff to perhaps include in their review of what might be possible for the site – whether it’s feasible for some sort of plant growing space.”
Councillor Steve Taskovski said the nursery’s operations “financially weren’t viable”.
The feasibility report notes that the site’s location in a floodway zone means its use is restricted to non-habitable and flood-resistant activations.
“Development can only include non-habitable, flood-resistant structures that do not block water flow, nor encourage significant attendance at public events,” the document states.
Councillor Bill Waterhouse said it was important QPRC planned around that restriction.
“As long as whatever we put there can cope with it being a flood area [and] whatever we put there is removable or floatable, you can get around flood areas with that sort of stuff … It’s a good little spot. I think it’s got possibilities.”
The decision means that councillors will receive a report on appropriate options for QPRC to use or dispose of it at a future meeting.
It is currently being used as a compound for the Monaro Street Refresh project.
