Is this the best way to spend $7.7M?

SENTINEL-TIMES COMMENT

LET’S try to break this down.

When the Bass Coast Shire Council, our elected representatives, voted to effectively go ahead with a $7.7 million project on Wednesday, September 15 last year, they did so without first seeing any, or almost any, supportive documentation.

There were no environmental or economic impact reports, certainly not sighted by the councillors anyway – Crs Michael Whelan, Les Larke and Rochelle Halstead have confirmed that in the past week.

In other words, there were no reports on the likely loss of native vegetation along the roadsides and through unused road reserves, where the 14km inland trail between Inverloch and Wonthaggi is expected to go, and how it will be minimised and offset.

Even claims it’s 14km by the zig-zag route proposed don’t seem right when it’s 13.1km going straight up the Bass Highway.
There was no assessment on the likely impact on commercial farming operations on the adjacent properties, jobs created, or income generated for the local area.

There was also, crucially, no information about the likely usage of the inland route through mostly uninteresting farmland by visitors, locals and ‘commuters’.

There were also no reports on the outcome of relevant community consultation, specifically on this particular project, not the 52 other pathways included in the 2016 Aspirational Pathways Plan, but the sort of consultation you’d expect before a $7.7 million project, including $4.7 million of ratepayers’ funds, gets the go-ahead.

Farmers have since dismissed claims they were properly consulted.

Five months after council voted to contribute $4.7 million of our money and go after a grant of $3 million for an unproven project, and 16 days after Bass MP Jordan Crugnale announced a grant of $3 million from the Victorian Government’s

Growing Suburbs Fund, the shire has belatedly released some of the background data.

But it’s a cobbled together set of statements mostly quoting from old or regional reports without providing specific information on this project. Frankly it’s not good enough.

Aside from motherhood statements about consultation, minimising and offsetting lost vegetation, assurances the inland route won’t stop the coast route being built, assurances that farmers have been properly consulted, also that it’s supposed to be “a vital link in the (270km) Gippsland Trails Odyssey”; there’s still precious little actual data on this project.

The one claim the shire does make in the so-called explanation released last Friday is: “The REMPLAN Impact Summary Report identified this project will create 31 jobs and generate $14.54 million in direct economic benefit to the region”, but where you find this titbit of information in the shire’s little-known REMPLAN report is a mystery.

But forget the impact on the farmers, the impact on the native vegetation corridors, the lack of consultation or due diligence and whether or not this is a green conspiracy to deny access to the coast, if you can – who will use this facility and is it a top spending priority for the Council?

We’ve heard claims by the Council that the route supports its active transport plans, that people will be encouraged to “commute” between Inverloch and Wonthaggi on their bikes – come on!

How many people-a-day will actually get on their bike and commute to work? This isn’t Fitzroy. You can’t ride to Wonthaggi for your weekly shopping for example. And are we forgetting South Gippsland/Bass Coast’s notoriously wet and wintry weather?

How many projects around the shire can you think of that are more deserving of $4.7 million of ratepayers’ money ($7.7m-plus with a State or Federal grant)? There must be dozens.

What do we do now? Shut up and take the money, I guess.