Council agrees to move Wanderer Festival to Pambula Sporting Complex

The three-day festival was launched to great acclaim last month, with pre-sale tickets already sold out - not surprising given acts like The Dandy Warhols, Curtis Harding, Ziggy Alberts and DMA's are among the headliners already announced.

The site at Bournda was considered to be ideal for the performing arts and music festival with its commitment to eco and green principles, organiser Simon Daly said.

Mr Daly has a track record with festivals in Victoria, Tasmania and northern NSW and now lives in Pambula Beach with his family.

The festival has been flagged as a multi-generational event attracting families and individuals from across the generations with its music stage, circus big top and emerging artists area.

However timelines were getting extremely tight to successfully get a DA for the festival from council especially as some fairly serious roadworks would have been necessary at the intersection of Kulbardi Close and Sapphire Coast Dr to access the proposed site.

"I always had a plan B," Mr Daly said of the festival which was due to host not only three performance stages but also around 9000 campers.

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That plan B is the Pambula Sporting Complex which means less campers on site - around 1300.

However it will mean the festival is closer to main population centres and accommodation, which should reap the benefit.

"The timing has been difficult for us and for council. For council to turn this around and work with plan B so co-operatively and to take that leadership and back us, is good," Mr Daly said.

The festival which has received substantial funding from the state government is planned for September 23-25 in order to bring people into the area in the shoulder season.

The issues over the DA did raise questions for the event, which is slated to bring $30m into the area and prompted contact from Eurobodalla Council who were interested in finding a solution for Mr Daly and bringing the event to their shire.

Mr Daly said though, this was where he lived and he wanted to do it for this area.

Councillors heard from Mr Daly before the meeting about plans for parking using Garry Hetherington's land opposite the Broken Oar Cafe, Neil Dawson's land behind Mitre 10 and the practise fairway at the Pambula Merimbula Golf Club to limit vehicle traffic at the sports ground.

Mr Daly mentioned the land around the Baptist Church and the nearby bike track and said the area was a really impressive precinct.

Cr Mitchell Nadin said there had been power problems at the site and asked how power requirements were being handled. Council's CEO Anthony McMahon told the chamber that the organisers were "looking to be completely independent of the grid" and so he didn't think it would be a problem.

In terms of capacity the mayor, Russell Fitzpatrick told councillors there had been events of 8000 people previously at the ground and its true capacity was up to 15,000 and so he saw "no problem with future growth".

Council's agreement to move the festival comes with a suite of conditions and regulations involving waste and traffic management, including that Culgoa Crescent becomes a one way street for the entirety of the event and a reduction in the speed limit on Pambula Beach Road on days leading up to and during the event to a 40km/h speed zone.

With the venue change Mr Daly said it would be all systems go for the new venue launch on Thursday morning.

The festival is expected to attract several thousand people and with no on site parking there will be buses to move people around.

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