05/04/2024
Dear Adventure Dog Patrons,
As you will now know, Animal Aid have had to make the difficult decision to relocate the 2024 Animal Aid Charity Dog Run from Wandin Park Estate to the Yarra Glen Showgrounds.
We are devastated that we will not be able to host the event at Wandin Park Estate in 2024 as we have in previous years.
To be clear – we did not want the event to have to be moved – it is an important fundraiser for Animal Aid, a charity we want to support in every way possible.
On 15 March 2024, we were contacted by a representative of the Yarra Ranges Council raising concern that we did not hold an appropriate planning permit to run the event. As we discussed with the representative of the Yarra Ranges Council that day, Wandin Park Estate has always been of a view that we have relevant planning permission to run events like the Animal Aid Charity Dog Run following the granting of our existing use rights in December 2021.
Following our conversation on 15 March 2024, we were advised that the Yarra Ranges Council would get back in touch with us regarding the event.
We did not hear anything from the Yarra Ranges Council until 10.10 pm on Friday, 22 March 2024 when they advised that as we did not have a planning permit to run the event, it was unable to proceed at Wandin Park Estate on 7 April 2024.
Given that we have run the event since 2018 without any complaint of the Yarra Ranges Council and given that the event, until recently, was advertised on the Yarra Ranges Council website, we were completely shocked and heartbroken that the Yarra Ranges Council have made this decision without a clear explanation.
We have spent the last few weeks working with Animal Aid to find a solution that would allow the event to remain at Wandin Park Estate.
However, it has become clear that due to the recent decision of the Yarra Ranges Council, the event simply cannot be run at Wandin Park Estate and we support the decision of Animal Aid to relocate the event to the Yarra Glen Showgrounds.
For further information about the new location, you can visit the Animal Aid website at https://animalaid.org.au/adventure-dog/ (https://animalaid.org.au/adventure-dog/)