The owner of a New South Wales amusement park has vowed to fight a court order that he dismantle more than two dozen attractions, including a pony ride yard, bumper car track and inflatable obstacle course.
The state’s land and environment court made the order earlier this week in a judgment it delivered after a three-year legal battle between the amusement park’s owner, John Grant, and Kiama municipal council.
Grant, 76, said he had invested more than $10m to build Granties Maze in Foxground on the NSW south coast, which he said features rides not found anywhere else in the world, including an oversized zebra and a centipede from China.
“I’m very disappointed that [the court] took all of the council’s word and not one of mine,” said Grant, who represented himself in court.
A former real estate agent, Grant drew on inspiration from a trip to the gardens at Hampton Court in London to open his own park – featuring a large hedge maze – in 1985.
He said he had to close it in early 1986 because he couldn’t afford $50,000 to build an overtaking lane on the road outside that the council had requested.
Grant said he spent $300,000 to build an overtaking lane to reopen the park in 2015 after a series of unsuccessful attempts with the council to expand the park.
The property is now home to about 80 rides and attractions, most of which Grant said he had imported.
“I’m not exactly what you’d call a handyman,” he said. “Around Australia probably 70% of the mazes have closed … you’ve got to have other attractions.”
The court case began in 2021 when Grant launched legal action to stop council staff entering his property to remove rides it had deemed “high-risk”, including an archery range, “ninja walls” and a Clydesdale horse ride.
The court rejected Grant’s application and the council then applied for approval to take down the rides.
To bolster its case, the council commissioned a report from theme park expert Clinton Ford, which it submitted as evidence.
According to the judgment, Ford found most of the devices on the property were “not in acceptable operating condition nor suitable to operate in the environment in which they are located”.
Ford determined a number of the devices were “materially unsafe” and that park operated without adequate working procedures and safety controls to meet regulatory obligations to ensure visitors were safe.
The land and environment court judge, Justice John Robson, acknowledged in his judgment that a number of the rides had not been operational for “some period of time”.
Nevertheless, Robson found Grant had breached NSW planning laws by installing many of the attractions without development consent from the council.
After accepting the council’s evidence that they were unsafe, he ordered Grant to dismantle 27 rides within three months.
Grant said he would appeal the decision. He denied the rides were unsafe and said SafeWork NSW had regularly inspected his property.
He said the park didn’t get many visitors and he wanted to make it profitable so he could pass it on to his children.
“I’d like to put a rollercoaster in here but they cost $25m,” he said. “I haven’t got $25m and the people who make rollercoasters don’t accept Monopoly money.”
Kiama council has been contacted for comment.
