It will see the power and water connections redeveloped, and will improve amenities at the toilet blocks.
As a result of this, all 22 residents of the Morris St caravan park have been served notice to temporarily vacate.
But council will not confirm if the upgraded area would be utilised as a caravan park into the future.
‘‘Liston Park has fallen well behind in terms of compliance with the standards you’d expect from a caravan park,’’ Murray River Council Mayor Chris Bilkey said.
‘‘As the owner of that park, council is quite concerned to upgrade it to standards that comply.
‘‘I know notices have been served on residents to leave the park while that upgrade is undertaken.’’
Cr Bilkey said it was an unfortunate necessity to remove the caravans while works were being undertaken.
‘‘Our message is that once that upgrade is completed, they will have a far better facility.
‘‘We recognise that it’s a disturbance, but it has to be done.’’
Of those who use the park, two are permanent residents who live at the caravan park.
Bendigo man Noel Riding, a semi-permanent resident whose family has holidayed at Liston Park for five generations, said he has not been able to get ‘‘a straight answer’’ out of council since he was served the 60 day notice to vacate.
‘‘Council is the one that let it (the park) run down, and all of a sudden they need to upgrade it?’’ he questioned.
Mr Riding grew up in Echuca and went to school in Mathoura. The town is important to him.
He has a van at the caravan site which he visits regularly.
‘‘For two years, when COVID was at its worst, we weren’t allowed to go to our vans. But still we paid our rates,’’ Mr Riding said.
He added Liston Park could have been upgraded during those two years with minimal disruption to those with permanent or semi-permanent residences with the park — most of whom are Victorian-based, and were not able to travel to access the park, either because of lockdowns or the hard NSW-Victoria border.
Mr Riding says he and other residents understand the park needs upgrades, but he wants assurances that the use of the land will remain the same.
‘‘We’re not against them doing up the caravan park, but I don’t think they want it as a caravan park any more.’’
It has prompted Mr Riding — who is visiting Mathoura this weekend for his daughter’s wedding — to bring a petition to town, where he hopes to get ‘‘as many signatures as possible’’ in favour of preserving the park.
He has already garnered some support on a local Facebook group.
Cr Bilkey said council would ‘‘absolutely’’ take account of public opinion if a petition were presented to council on the issue, but his personal opinion was that the park’s use needed to be evaluated through due process.
‘‘What we’ve got to evaluate is how much use such a caravan park would get, to justify its existence.
‘‘My personal opinion is if it is upgraded and the attractiveness of the park is expected to rise, then that needs some evaluation.’’
Council will consider the use of the park before the expected date of the upgrade completion in August.
