Big Splash Waterpark in Macquarie has been neglected for years. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
The regulator has taken the next step against the owners of the Big Splash Waterpark in Macquarie for not meeting the requirements of the lease.
As the Delegate for the Territory Planning Authority, Access Canberra has written to the lessee notifying it that the Crown Lease could be terminated.
Complicating matters is the fact that the lessee is now a group of lenders who repossessed the site from the former owner, Translink Property Management.
The Authority is required under the Planning Act to take this step, before a lease is terminated.
The lessee will now have to tell the Authority in writing why the lease should not be terminated.
The notice provides the lessee 15 working days from the date of receipt to respond, and the Authority may extend this period.
Big Splash is among seven sites in the ACT facing regulatory action for failing to maintain their properties, including Richardson shops in Tuggeranong along with five other vacant blocks.
The move comes as the deadline for Big Splash to reopen as a public aquatic facility passed last Friday (23 January), and as a community petition ramps up calls for the government to terminate the lease and take the site back.
The ACT Government says it is using “new powers” under the Planning Act 2023 for the first time, allowing the Authority to issue notices requiring work to be completed within a new timeframe.
“Failure to complete works within the new compliance time are grounds to terminate the lease,” a spokesperson told Region.
Community group Save Big Splash says the lease should be terminated and restore to public control.
