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Bass Coast’s 50-year plan released

10/3/2022

9 Comments

 
Picture
Read the draft policy and have your say
at Engagement Victoria. Submissions
​close on April 29.
By Catherine Watson
 
THE long-awaited draft Bass Coast Statement of Planning Policy has finally been released for consultation by the State Government as part of the Distinctive Areas and Landscapes (DAL) project.
 
The policy was due to be released for the second stage of community consultation last July but was deferred several times without explanation.
 
The document includes a 50-year vision, objectives and strategies for guiding land use, management and development decisions to protect and enhance the significant attributes of the Bass Coast declared area.

​Bass Coast is one of only four shires in Victoria to have been declared a Distinctive Areas and Landscapes area.
Bass Coast Mayor Michael Whelan said the draft policy designated long-term settlement boundaries for townships to provide greater certainty for communities and investors.
 
“Now the council and community need to sit down and get their heads around the document to make sure it does what we want it to do,” Cr Whelan said.​
The biggest change is in a number of township boundaries. The draft recommends extending the San Remo township east along the Phillip Island Road.
​ 

Two township boundaries on the island have been reduced. A portion of the Phillip Island Golf Club between Coghlan and Settlement roads, once mooted for residential development, has now been removed from the Cowes township area.
 
A portion of Newhaven West adjacent to Western Port is proposed to be removed from the township boundary along with the former airport, which was also mooted for residential development in 2015.
 
Proposed industrial land to the south of Grantville has also been removed because of its proximity to Western Port.
 
The draft policy sees Coronet Bay and Corinella remaining as separate townships, despite suggestions that they should become one.
 
Wonthaggi is earmarked as the major regional centre to reduce the development pressure on the other townships in more vulnerable areas of Bass Coast. The Wonthaggi townships boundaries will be finalised after the other boundaries are set.
Woodlands ignored
Picture
The draft policy barely mentions the Western Port woodlands, the last significant forest in Bass Coast.
There was major disappointment for a local community group hoping for permanent protection of the woodland corridor between Nyora and Bass.
   Save Western Port Woodlands spokesperson Gerard Drew said the draft policy gave too much emphasis to landscapes as visual elements rather than recognising the web of life within them.
   “The woodlands were noted for the ability of vegetation to hide the ugliness of sand extraction.
   “The beauty of the landscape comes from complex life and forces that shape them. The beauty is lost once they are emptied of that complex life.
   “We welcome the draft policy’s recognition of the biodiversity and indigenous cultural heritage value of the Western Port Woodlands, but we’re disappointed that it then proposes to classify the area for sand mining.
     Jordan Crook from the Victorian National Parks Association said the failure to recognise the importance of the Western Port Woodlands was a tragedy.
  “The Gippsland Plain bioregion is one of the most cleared areas in the state and every piece of bushland should be protected and respected. The environmental and cultural values of the Western Port Woodlands must be recognised and protected with planning controls.”
  Mr Drew said SWPW would encourage its 300-plus members and supporters to put in submissions. “We hope the final version of the policy addresses the clear conflict between sand extraction and conservation.”

​
9 Comments
Neil Daly
10/3/2022 10:43:22 pm

Thanks for this informative article Catherine and for assisting us to come to terms with this proposal. Can you please list the other shires declared as DAL areas?

Reply
anonymous
11/3/2022 02:47:31 pm

Macedon Ranges, Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula (Greater Geelong)

Reply
Yvonne McRae
11/3/2022 12:13:50 pm

I have received notification of the draft policy as my property in Reed Crescent lies within the declared area. Will read the lot and put in a submission. But again the Web of Life re woodlands and native vegetation misses out. We - homo sapiens- are so short sighted and full of our own importance. Surely by now it is evident to even the last of the dinosaurs in Parliaments that WE are only one link in the life of this planet. As environments are destroyed, extinctions are happening every few minutes how much longer can we expect to carry on with little or no regard for planet Earth? There is no Planet B.

Reply
Barbara T Moje
11/3/2022 12:41:42 pm

Hello, I am very concerned that the Westernport Woodlands are not included in the significant & distinctive landscapes plan. Perhaps the govt needs a little more feedback, that it is important to us. So:

I have a suggestion: could the Save the woodlands Group draft some text that could be circulated to help as many people as possible make a submission? Many people I'm sure would like to make a submission, but they may not know how to 'wade' through the whole daunting document nor may find it hard to know how to phrase their submission. I think we need many voices. Even from town so we don't get decried as the NIMBYs . We are doing this for future generations and not out of self-interest. Thanks.

Reply
Neil Daly
12/3/2022 07:59:27 am

Thank you Anonymous. It’s a pity the other shires bordering Western Port are not part of the same process, for the issues are common to all and would be better treated from a holistic approach as envisaged in the “Western Port Strategic Management Plan” I propose.

Reply
Gill Heal
12/3/2022 06:27:29 pm

Crushing but long suspected news for the Group. They've worked to the point of exhaustion to make this stand for the Woodland. Thank you all.

Reply
Phil Westwood
14/3/2022 12:47:04 pm

The Victorian Government and Bass Coast Shire are currently going through the charade of public consultation over the development of a Statement of Planning Policy covering the region’s environmental and sustainability values. They have asked for on- line comments and they will probably receive plenty about the destruction of native vegetation and wildlife habitat in the name of ‘development’.

The Statement and proposed planning controls need to fully take account of the comprehensive and expert data in the Regional Sand Extraction Strategy, Lang Lang to Grantville plus flora and fauna survey work undertaken for Friends of Bass Valley Bush Landcare group as published in Baseline Studies of Bass River, funded by the Natural Heritage Trust in conjunction with Bass Coast Shire.

But the reality is that the document is simply window-dressing to allow the pretence that planners, bureaucrats and politicians actually care and can bothered to do something useful. Past performance demonstrates that they have no sustainable environmental understanding.

Reply
Meg
22/3/2022 07:32:22 pm

So let me get this straight, according to the report, the Westernport woodlands "were noted for the ability of vegetation to hide the ugliness of sand extraction." Good grief, is this a serious statement! Surely a bit like saying that we might just as well treat all oceans, bays and rivers as a dumping point for human rubbish; afterall out of sight out of mind! But wait, we already do that don't we! And so I continue to trawl through the DAL material, and wonder if all those words, thousands and thousands of them, will have any real meaningful impact at all?

Reply
Annabel Richards
4/5/2022 10:04:16 pm

It is vital that the dwindling Westernport woodlands are expanded and protected.
This magical ecosystem is home to rare and threatened species. It is already fractured by sand mining and other commercial ventures. In the face of climate change, woodlands are a major factor in absorbing CO2. Approximately 95% of natural vegetation has been lost in the region and it is imperative to start replanting and expanding the woodland habitat. Such action will not only help protect species, but will enhance tourism, provide educational opportunities and improve health and recreation. Sand mining must be eliminated from the area. A vision for the woodlands will surely enhance the status and spirit of the Bass Coast Shire council.

Reply



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