It comes after a council report identified potential risks with the 14-hectare block on Billagah Street.

The report ultimately recommended the site be approved for development however site owner, Michael Cashen, believes he has taken every precaution necessary to ensure the site’s safety.

“Bidgee Strawberries and Cream has been in the works for the best part of three years,” he said.

“We’ve had numerous consultations and we’ve done a lot in terms of making the site suitable for what we’ve proposed and making it safe for people to come in and be involved.”

David McMahon of McMahon Earth Science said extensive research had already been conducted on-site.

“We conducted a full contamination assessment that involved doing a search of the site history,” Mr McMahon said.

“This involved reviewing all available other data such as monitoring from council bores, looking at available landscape data and then physically collecting soil samples at different depths and analysing them for contaminants.”

Mr McMahon said the assessment was conducted to the most stringent EPA guidelines and said there would be “no risks” with the site.

“It’d be a model development for beneficial reuse of treated water,” he said.

Mr Cashen first submitted the development application in back in February but said he’d been working with council 6 months prior to that.

“It’s been a fairly long winded process,” he said.

“We’ve done some market research with similar businesses in the Mornington Peninsula and Port Macquarie but also some fairly extensive work in the United States.”

With few existing agri-tourism destinations across the Riverina, Mr Cashen wants to make Bidgee Strawberries and Cream a place for all.

“We think think it will appeal to all ages, particularly families or retirees,” he said.