By MARC MCGOWAN
RESIDENTS will get a chance to air their views on celebrity chef Shannon Bennett’s Burnham Beeches redevelopment, despite community confusion suggesting otherwise.
Mr Bennett and business partner Adam Garrisson, who bought Burnham Beeches in 2010, plan to transform the Sherbrooke establishment into a six-star hotel and one of Victoria’s top tourist destinations.
The Piggery Café and Burnham Bakery are already in operation on the 23-hectare site.
The owners’ decision to lodge a request with Planning Minister Matthew Guy for a planning scheme amendment, including their master plan for the site, has sparked public debate.
One media report described the move as Mr Bennett’s and Mr Garrisson’s way of bypassing Yarra Ranges Council.
But Councillor Noel Cliff, who has been in talks with Burnham Beeches owners for about two years, said council would be involved in the planning process.
“The story going around that Shannon Bennett bypassed us is not true,” Cr Cliff said.
“He can speak to whoever he likes and he spoke to the government, but all planning decisions are with us.
“The small thing he’s applied for is to get the restaurant open, and that followed procedure.”
Cr Cliff said the public would have the chance to comment once Burnham Beeches owners made further applications.
He declined to speculate on when and what the next application would be, or whether Mr Bennett and Mr Garrisson wanted to triple capacity to 1700.
“It’s going to be the best thing for the Dandenongs. This is what we need to give our tourism industry a good shove along,” Cr Cliff said.
“This bloke is really switched on and this place is going to be a showpiece.”
A written Burnham Beeches statement said the Planning Scheme Amendment application would enable future permit applications to be lodged with council for consideration.
The master plan was developed through “extensive consultation” with leading planning consultants and architects, Cr Cliff, and council’s head of planning Andrew Paxton and his team.
“We hope Burnham Beeches can be restored to its former glory as a country mansion, after languishing, largely neglected, for more than 23 years,” Mr Bennett said in the statement.
“In the process we expect to create up to 200 jobs in the regional hospitality and tourism industries and create a truly unique and world-leading gastronomic village.”
Cr Samantha Dunn has urged Mr Bennett and Mr Garrisson through the media in recent weeks to involve council and the community in the process.
Cr Dunn, who has not been in contact with the owners, said it was “an exciting time for Burnham Beeches” despite her reservations.
“It’s a highly engaged community, so their expectation is that on those major sorts of developments that community does get to have a say on it,” Cr Dunn said.
“I have some questions around the 50 villas proposed for the site. To me, that seems a lot.
“I’d want to explore that a bit more around who owns them, how do they come to be and is there potential for a subdivision in the future … that’s why I’d rather have the conversation.”
Among the concerned residents is former Shire of Sherbrooke Mayor Betty Marsden, who is also a long-time member of the Dandenong Ranges Gardens Advisory Committee.
Mrs Marsden was supportive of owners’ efforts to restore the former Nicholas family country mansion, but worried about “over-development” and increased traffic in the area.
She was on council in the 1980s when ex-Burnham Beeches owner John Guy re-opened the establishment as a hotel and restaurant and has kept close tabs on it since.
