A decision to allow the demolition of the Club Hotel in Bluff opens the door for the popular Bluff Oyster & Food Festival to be held in May 2024 after a two-year hiatus.

The event, which regularly attracts 4000 people, was cancelled this year because the former hotel building, which stands beside the festival site, had been issued with a dangerous building notice.

The 2022 festival was canned because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a decision issued on Friday, independent commissioner Paula Costello granted the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival Charitable Trust’s application for earthworks and demolition of the hotel, subject to a number of conditions.

The decision was made after a hearing in November.

The trust owns the vacant main-street hotel and stages the oyster and food festival on the adjoining site.

Festival committee member Kylie Fowler said she was relieved at the decision to allow demolition of the building, subject to no appeals being lodged before January 12.

The committee had been trying to get the dangerous building demolished for four years.

Her relief stemmed from knowing the public would be safe once it was down.

“It means we can remove the risk for the Bluff public and the wider community.”

The hearing had cost the festival committee $25,000, she said.

Fowler said the building would take four weeks to be demolished, but work wouldn’t start until certain conditions were met and a traffic management plan had been approved.

The vacant hotel stands in Bluff’s main street, which is part of State Highway 1, and the road would have to be closed with a detour in place while demolition was under way.

Fowler said she hoped the building would be down by the end of February.

All going well, the 2024 festival would be held on May 25.

Tickets would not go on sale until the building was down, she said.