73-year-old Linda Knock, who has cerebral palsy, is contesting a South Australian Supreme Court bid by Crawford Giles, owner and operator of Bellara Village in Campbelltown, 8.7km northeast of Adelaide, to cut the village which provides independent living, supported living and respite care, in half to build a petrol station and a fast-food outlet on the excised land.
Crawford is seeking to terminate the current agreement with residents and replace it with a new agreement that allows for the development of Bellara Village. Under the state's Retirement Villages Act, an owner must win approval of all residents before the agreement can be ended.
“If I don’t fight this, it opens the door for other (retirement village) owners to take advantage,’’ Linda, who has lived at Bellara Village since 2013, told The Adelaide Advertiser. Bellara has 28 independent living units for permanent residents, but only around 14 are still occupied and the area earmarked for the new development has abandoned units and unkempt gardens.
“It’s not the village I moved into,’’ she said. “You don’t expect your life to be turned upside down like that.’’
Crawford bought Bellara Village in 2018 and in 2021 was granted development approval by the Campbelltown Council to build an eight-pump X Convenience petrol station and a KFC. The remaining land will continue to be a residential village for retirees.
Proposed changes to the state's Retirement Villages Act are currently before State Parliament and Legislative Councillor Connie Bonaros is proposing amendments to toughen the law to give residents more safeguards and include a “community impact test’’.
“There is no question in my mind that this will be a dangerous precedent adversely impacting some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” she said. “Sadly, I suspect this example is just the tip of the iceberg, if it’s happening here, it’s happening elsewhere, leaving vulnerable South Australians in a desperate situation.’’
Linda said even if the Supreme Court reject the owner’s application it would be hard to stay in Bellara, before adding she would need to find hundreds of thousands of dollars to move to a new village.
A spokesman for the owner and operator declined to comment to the publication.
