Residents declare 'war' over proposed water park

The Bundaberg Regional Council will start a tender process for part of Nielson Park at Bargara.

Mayor Helen Blackburn says any proposal for a water park will need to meet community expectations.

Residents opposed to the park's development are considering legal action.

A proposed water park has divided a Queensland coastal community, with residents and councillors clashing over the potential loss of public green space and the future of the region.

The Bundaberg Regional Council narrowly passed a motion at its ordinary meeting on Tuesday to start a tender process for part of Nielson Park at Bargara, almost five hours' drive north of Brisbane.

The parcel of land is about 2.8 hectares of grassed area with native trees and sits adjacent to a caravan park.

Councillors erupted into debate at the meeting, with Councillor Jason Bartels among those criticising a lack of detail, despite no tenders or concepts having yet been presented to the council.

"Do we want to be known as the council that paved paradise with a caravan park?" he said, his comments pre-empting the neighbouring caravan park would submit a tender for the project.

Councillor Deborah Keslake said misinformation had been shared on social media, in a brief but heated exchange with Councillor Tracey McPhee.

"It's not a contract, it's not a handshake and there's certainly no paper bags that have been given, despite comments made on social media," Cr Keslake said.

Mayor Helen Blackburn said the procedural motion was "the first step, not the last" that allowed council to explore options for a publicly accessible splash park.

"It's really just like an expression of interest. We are looking to see what available opportunities there might be for that land," she said.

"Council certainly doesn't have the funding available to be able to fund this project themselves, and so we're just seeking to see whether or not there is any party that might be interested in doing that for our community.

She said any tender and proposal would be required to meet the communities' expectations.

An amendment was added to the motion, stating if any proposal was not consistent with the existing Land Management Plan, further community consultation would be carried out.

Cr Helen Blackburn, Cr Steve Cooper, Cr Larine Statham-Blair, Cr Carmen McEneany, Cr Gary Kirk and Cr Deborah Keslake voted in favour of the tender process, while Cr Tracey McPhee, Cr Jason Bartels, Cr William Trevor, Cr May Mitchell and Cr John Learmonth were against it.

The public gallery was filled with residents opposed to the development, who said they were disappointed with the decision.

Bundaberg and District Landcare president Michael Johnson said the group was considering legal action.

"It's only the first battle in the start of a war," he said.

It comes after hundreds of people formed a chain around the park in protest of it being developed last Saturday.

The mayor agreed it was a divisive issue but believed there were more residents who supported the idea of a splash park.

"It's been quite divisive because there has been so much false information put out into the public realm," she said.

"At no point has anyone said that there would be any conservation problems with the trees or that trees would be knocked down."