Penola bypass causes impasse for Cbonawarra wine businesses

摘要

The legal action initiated by the Penola and District Ratepayers and Residents' Association in March is expected to slow, if not halt, the acquisition of land for the Penola bypass road that the Wattle Range Council voted to go ahead with at its meeting on 9 December 2008. The road will cut a swathe through Coonawarra vineyards in order to move the 550 or more heavy vehicles that pass through the town each day. Residents have not disputed that it is necessary to improve public safety by directing heavy vehicle traffic away from Penola, but in the process Foster's Group, Parker Coonawarra Estate, owned by the Rathbone Wine Group since 2004, and several other growers with small land holdings now have to grapple with the effects that the western-aligned bypass road will have on their businesses.