Local wagyu beef farmer and businessman Peter Doyle has long held a dream of procuring local produce and high-end meat, and presenting it to the travelling public. 

“I want to give quality meat to the blue collar Australian, rather than just the prestigious wealthy market,” he said. 

His long term project to provide a delicatessen, café, bakery, and butchery to the public has been approved by Greater Taree City Council and is currently in its early stages. The first stage of the development on site is already underway to provide infrastructure supporting his existing veterinary pharmaceutical business. 

“I am not sure when the next stages will happen, but they will happen. It’s a matter of taking small steps at a time” said Mr Doyle. 

His caution is understandable, as his neighbour’s development has also been given the green light, but this time by the NSW Land and Environment Court. Joseph Sgro, the owner of the land on which Nabiac’s Caravan Park resides, won his appeal against Greater Taree City Council in June when the court’s commissioner ruled that the development was acceptable, subject to conditions. 

Mr Sgro’s proposal was first submitted to Taree Council in 2011. It involved a new highway service centre and the relocation and rebuilding of the current caravan park, which will move to the southern side of the property. 

The service centre will consist of 12 refuelling bowsers, a 24-hour Shell convenience store, a Hungry Jacks, a Pie Face restaurant, an Oliver’s food outlet, and another optional food retail tenancy.

Taree Council’s protest surrounded the use of the site within the zoning and its compliance within council’s past and present environment plans. Great Lakes Council’s director of planning and environmental services Lisa Schiff also appeared at the court’s hearing, supporting Taree’s zoning concerns. She also expressed misgivings on the development’s impact on local businesses in the nearby villages of Nabiac, Bulahdelah, and Coolongolook, and its inconsistency with Great Lakes Council’s strategic planning for the site.

The operator of Nabiac’s Caravan Park, the site on which the development will occur, was initially ambivalent about the project but welcomed the infrastructure it will provide. 

“In the long term, I feel it will be better for us, and the area. It will provide local employment and give our business a purpose built area to operate from,” Wesley Richardson said.

Sgro’s highway service centre is due to start building early next year, with a completion date set in time for the Christmas rush in December 2015. 

It could signal a reprieve, albeit a temporary one, for Peter Doyle’s neighbouring wagyu cows as he waits to see what happens with the neighbouring service centre.

“I’m biding my time to see what happens but the Hungry Heffer will eventually be built.  They’re fast food; we’re not,” Mr Doyle said.