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Not so fast, GM

5/3/2020

7 Comments

 
PictureGM will probably seek to sell the Lang Lang proving ground to the highest bidder, so Bass Coast needs to stake its claim.
By Mikhaela Barlow

GM’s announcement that Holden is ceasing all operations in Australia is seen by many as a national tragedy and a great loss to the community. While I understand people’s sadness that an Australian icon will disappear, the decision gives Bass Coast an opportunity to acquire a wonderful and unique community asset.
 
The Lang Lang Proving Ground is a very large parcel of land, heavily vegetated with native forest and home to many vulnerable species of flora and fauna. It has a small building footprint and a large network of roads and tracks which have been used to develop vehicles suited to Australian conditions.

​I believe Bass Coast Shire Council now has a window of opportunity to raise its hand on behalf of the community, acquire it on behalf of the Australian taxpayers who have heavily subsidised Holden since 1948, and redevelop the facility into a multi-use recreational facility – in simpler terms, a great big park.


The existing road network could be used for driver education, a field in which Bass Coast is already a leader, having developed the L2P program which, since its inception in Wonthaggi, has now been rolled out statewide. A network of walking and mountain bike trails would give locals a much needed recreation option: we currently lack any mountain bike facilities.
 
In 2006 World Trail founder and CEO Glenn Jacobs, (designer of the mountain bike cross country courses for the Sydney Olympics and Melbourne Commonwealth Games) toured Bass Coast with then councillor Gareth Barlow, and was excited by the opportunities for a mountain bike trail network in the Waterline area.
Lang Lang Proving Ground
The figures
  • 877 hectares
  • Opened in 1957
  • 44 kilometres of road, sealed and unsealed
  • 4 lane circular track (speed bowl),
  • 111 million kilometres clocked up (three quarters of the way to the sun)
Source: GM website
At that time The Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve was discussed, but Cr Barlow saw potential for conflict with walkers and horse riders and the idea was dropped. One of the things that excited Mr Jacobs most was the location directly on the Bass Highway only an hour south of Melbourne. He felt this convenient access to a capital city would establish Bass Coast as one of the destinations for bicycle tourism both from within Australia and from overseas, leading to a facility which would be eligible for Government funding both in the initial construction stages and over time as visitor numbers increased.
 
The proving ground would be an ideal location and it would rapidly become both a greatly valued community asset and a sustainable, environmentally beneficial tourism destination.
 
The future of the proving grounds is very much a Bass Coast issue. The site is in the Farm Zone. It’s critical that the future use does not permit vegetation clearance. It is not farmland and should not be cleared.
 
A trail network would not require tree clearance.  Anyone who has ever ridden a good mountain bike track knows a well-designed trail winds around trees and other obstacles and includes features such as rock armouring, which protects trails from suffering over-use or drainage erosion.
 
A network of skinnies, ladders, bridges and see-saws could be sustainably constructed In appropriate parts of the park for those with a greater need for adrenalin than can be satisfied by cross country cycling. There’s no wheel to be invented.
 
The council could put the idea in the Too Hard basket. At some point GM WILL sell the site, either to another car manufacturer or to a corporation that will seek to redevelop the site. The community will receive zero benefit and an opportunity will be lost.
 
Or we could use this window of opportunity to start discussions with General Motors and the State Government. We have nothing to lose.
 
I hope the council will at least examine the options and I call on anyone interested in a sustainable future to discuss this situation with their councillors.
 
On February 17 GM announced the Lang Lang test track and design centre would close by 2021. A GM spokesperson told the Post  "GM is still working through options for the Lang Lang facility."
 
King of the road
November 15, 2017 - Over 43 years at the Holden proving ground in Lang Lang, Grantville’s Allan George drove every new Holden model. Geoff Ellis reports 
7 Comments
Vicki Breen
6/3/2020 10:24:43 am

Amazing idea!

Reply
Anne Heath Mennell
7/3/2020 02:48:38 pm

Good contribution to the wider conversation, Mikhaela. I'm sure there are plenty of ideas out there, which I hope will be heard by decision makers. My personal hope is that this unique place will become a State asset for the people of Victoria and, whatever activities are eventually approved, that the flora and fauna continue to be protected. We need to watch this one carefully.

Reply
anne paul
7/3/2020 08:36:31 pm

Michaela & BCP - you have well said exactly what has been on my mind since the Holden announcement. Get onto Jordan Crugnale to make representations on behalf of community to State Govt too.

Reply
Tim
8/3/2020 09:36:37 pm

Hi Mikhaela, I think that GM should by rights gift this land to the people of Australia.
While Holden was riding high on the hog in the Australian market, with as much as 50% market share - and remember too that GM was assisted by the Chifley Government to establish manufacturing here under the General Motors banner - it repatriated handsome profits to GM balance sheets in Detroit for the better part of 60 years. It has also benefited from huge amounts of Government largesse by way of the Green Car Innovation Fund (which began at $500million, and grew to $1billion); then later, the Automotive Transformation Scheme - tipping another $400million into local manufacturing (before the announcements of closure).
In fact, over the 12 years from 2001-2013, Holden's own figures show it received $2.17billion in state and federal government assistance, compared to $1.1 billion for Ford and $1.2 billion for Toyota.
Each of these manufacturers was then assisted with taxpayer money - after the announcement of closures - to shutter the factories and retrain the workforce. This amounted to another $150million (or so).
To load more salt into the wounds, GMH hasn't paid for tax for years: income 2016/17 - $4,601,580,614, tax - $0. (You can thank internal invoicing, fees from the parent company, for that.)
So, should it gift its proving grounds to Lang Lang? I should think so. Australian taxpayers have, after all, already paid handsomely for it.
I reckon we can get a groundswell going here. I'm a former motoring journalist, I think I can swing a lot of them in behind this campaign.
So, who's going to be in from down here? Let's get a group going and see what we can get rolling.
Tim

Reply
Chris Day
12/3/2020 12:56:25 pm

Great idea it's an asset that could add to the tourism in this area. Tourism is vital for the economy of not just Bass area but all of Australia.
Obviously the coronavirus is on everybody's priority at moment but it is showing us how important tourism is. It's also showing us how stupid we are as a country to close down our manufacturing sector which the state of Victoria dominated since WW2 mainly driven by buyers of major retailers going into Asia to get cheaper products and make more money. Now we find ourselves running out of products as we have no back up available .
My suggestion would be to get the federal government involved in this issue as vic govt have no new money to spend in sure the treasurer won't let Premier Dan anywhere near this issue.
Don't waste your energy thinking GMH will assist or donate the land they have shown only interested in their own situation not those who sold , serviced or bought their products .

Reply
Vivienne Turner
28/3/2022 02:24:59 pm

Watching this one closely. Huge opportunity to protect a significant parcel of important remnant vegetation.

Reply
Penny Green
30/3/2022 06:24:23 pm

Really good thinking Michaela. Let's not miss another opportunity to protect the trees and surrounding ecosystems. It can be a win/win and we need to work together on this. Thank you for raising our awareness of it!

Reply



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