After a tumultuous few years, Porcupine Village at Maldon has been granted a planning permit and it appears there may, finally, be a light at the end of the tunnel for the replica gold mining village.
The 1850s themed tourist attraction was originally created by Peter and Cristina Mitz back in the early 1990s and opened to the public in 1992. It ran successfully for many years but after its closure, the village sat dormant for almost two decades.
In 2020, Melbourne businessman Frank Hutchinson purchased the property with the hopes of not only reviving the replica gold mining town, but adding a fully functioning stand-alone restaurant, tourist accommodation and glamping facilities.
Managers were hired to oversee the restoration and of the project and works on the 15-acre property began shortly after sale.
In 2022, the owners of Porcupine Village submitted a planning application to the Mount Alexander Shire Council.
In May, 2022, the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Martin Pakula, visited the village to announce a $1.7 million investment for the development of the regional tourist attraction.
By January 2023, the restoration and building works had ground to a halt, due to breaches of permit application conditions and a lack of approved planning permits, with the exception of the managers’ accommodation and the site’s aptly named Gold Nugget Restaurant, which was up and running.
While many local residents and tourists were excited to see the village revitalised, some community members had expressed concerns about the scale of development planned for the site, particularly in relation to the natural environment, noise in a residential area and associated traffic and fire risks.
In the middle of 2023, the team behind the redevelopment of Porcupine Village submitted an amended planning permit to the council.
Mount Alexander Shire Council’s director of infrastructure and development said the application was withdrawn later in the year, before the council’s assessment process could be completed.
“An applicant can withdraw an application at any time prior to a decision being made. This is not an unusual process and happens for many different reasons,” Mr Annear said.
“The council’s role moving forward will be ongoing planning compliance of the site, along with assessing the proposals related to a number of conditions that relate to the council’s responsibility.”
A Victorian Government spokesperson told the Express that the planning application for Porcupine Village was submitted and approved through the Development Facilitation Program, as the project would provide a local tourism opportunity relevant to the area’s goldmining history and had been thoroughly assessed in the context of potential amenity and environmental impacts.
“The Development Facilitation Program streamlines the planning process to make faster decisions on priority projects that boost the economy and create jobs,” the spokesperson said.
Porcupine Village manager Doug Baird said they had submitted a planning permit application to Mount Alexander Shire Council, “way back when”, but they had since withdrawn the application.
“Then, less than a year ago, we submitted it to the minister’s office and now we finally have approval!” he said.
According to Mr Baird, there are 94 conditions on the permit that will need to be met, some of which are quite onerous, but will help ensure that the project complies with all requirements of the many regulatory bodies involved.
“Because of this, we envisage another few months of work ahead of us before we throw open the gates,” he said.
“But it is now very much a case of when we open, as opposed to if we will open.
“It’s been a long journey, but we’re full steam ahead now!”
