We have had our successful yurt camping business closed down by council who say we don't have a permit. We were told we didn't need one when we set up as they were completely collapsible and no more than two etc. new planning person now says we do. Our solicitor says we have an existing right so we are fighting it and believe we have a good chance and don't need to go through the extremely hard planning process. With Bushfire Overlays, farming overlays, building codes, prescribed accommodation rules, Health regs it is an enormous job to fill in all the paperwork then in the end after you have jumped through all the hoops and paid a lot of money out, Council can decide they don't want a business in a Farming Zone or anywhere with a Fire Overlay and just say no, but they don't tell you that until you put your permit in. This is killing rural communities, I would like to know how many building permits and business permits have been granted in our rural area, not many I believe in fact Council have systematically been going through all the Bnb's "helping them with their compliance" but they are all disappearing off the Air bnb site so there are more closures than any "helping" being done. Having to pay back prebooked holidays has already sent us broke and we could face bankruptcy as I was booked solid until April. They are not happy with just closing down our business they want the yurts and the hayshed type shelter removed asap. They should be representing our communities and helping them to grow not destroying them.
