THE book is not yet shut on Beaudesert Pig and Calf Saleyards after moves by Scenic Rim Mayor Tom Sharp to reopen community consultation.
It is the latest chapter in a saga dating back to 2020, when local auctioneers Hayes and Co found out Council would not renew their lease.
Locals vehemently opposed Council plans to remove the historic saleyard as part of the Beaudesert Town Centre Revitalisation project and got the site heritage listed, only for Council to have it overturned.
The last sale was held on 29 March 2021.
Cr Sharp released a policy specifically for the saleyards in his campaign for Mayor before he was elected in March 2024, promising to engage with Hayes and Co, the people of Beaudesert and the Scenic Rim regarding a return to the operation of the saleyards.
He offered genuine open consultation, to ask the people what they want to happen to the saleyards with one option being the reinstatement of those saleyards in time for this year’s B150 celebrations.
At a Council meeting on July 24, Cr Sharp spoke out against a motion that Council proceed with a proposal to replace the saleyards with a picnic area using reclaimed saleyard timber.
He instead moved that Council require the CEO to undertake more community consultation on the future uses of the saleyards and suspend any further work on the heritage display.
“I do acknowledge it has been quite a saga. It has been a controversial one. And part of that process, it’s not about whether the saleyards should be reinstated as an operating entity. It is about the consultation process that occurred and the lack thereof,” he said.
Peter Hayes from Hayes and Co told the Bulletin he would consider a return to Beaudesert.
“We haven’t closed the book on it, but we’ve left our options open because it was mentioned to us pre-election there could be a chance the yards would re-open,” he said.
“It’s got to be a good proposal because we own the site where we run the sales now at Silverdale and we don’t want to go back to Beaudesert and have the same thing happen again.”
