Gourmet town declares war on fast food

Nicolas Perpitch
October 29, 2012
The Australian

MARGARET River residents who helped put Western Australia’s premier wine, surf and tourism region off limits to coalminers and oil and gas exploration are now fighting to keep out fast-food chains.

The Margaret River shire has received hundreds of submissions by locals and businesses opposed to a fast-food outlet in a new Woolworths shopping complex. They fear it will ruin the town’s crucial tourism brand as a centre for gourmet food and wine and undermine its economic viability.

Residents see it as part of wider issue to protect the individuality of regional areas and are also concerned any fast-food franchise would be located only a block away from a primary school.

They point to the success of Adelaide parents, who won a court order in August blocking a 24-hour McDonald’s from being set up 200m from Woodville Primary School on the grounds it would have an “unacceptable impact on the amenity” of residents because of increased traffic and around-the-clock activity.

Woolworths is building a shopping centre on the grounds of the former Augusta-Margaret River Shire office building and has applied to alter its original planning application so that two shops can merge to become a 121-seat venue – fuelling resident fears.

In a statement, the supermarket giant denied speculation circulating in Margaret River that it had been struggling to find tenants, prompting it to look for a fast-food franchise.

It said the planning change it was seeking would be necessary not only for fast food but also for a bakery or fresh seafood retailer.

“We have not committed to a fast food retailer in the centre at this stage,” a Woolworths spokeswoman said, while noting there were already several fast food chains in the busy town.

Shire President Ray Colyer said councillors would decide the issue purely on planning grounds.

Sabine Lane, who has been at the forefront of the campaign against Woolworths’ plan, said she had handed 350 submissions to the shire on Tuesday from people opposed to another fast-food outlet. “It raises really big questions about whether we can maintain regionality or whether big business rules,” Ms Lane said.

She said a fast-food franchise did not fit the image of Margaret River as a region for high-quality, locally produced foods such as those on the farm where she works, and in an area surrounded by forests and a spectacular coastline. “People come to Margaret River for a different experience.

“They can go to a big fast-food outlet in many other towns; they’re not coming here for that. If our town becomes full of franchises and a cookie-cutter version of other towns, (it) is not going to survive in the long term. Maintaining our authenticity is very important to us.”