Lindsay’s grand plans for Coal Creek unveiled

SOUTH Gippsland Shire ‘Citizen of the Year’ nominee Lindsay Love’s commitment to ensuring Korumburra’s Coal Creek realises its tourism potential has been recognised by the local council, but he is calling for meaningful action to make his vision a possibility.

Mr Love used the public question time session at Wednesday’s South Gippsland Shire Council meeting to press for public consultation on the future direction of the Coal Creek precinct.

“I was advised late last year to raise the issue of future planning (for) Coal Creek as part of the ‘Community Vision’, but there has been no indication of any capacity to create this discussion, so can council supply a start date and process for the establishment of a review of the strategic direction of Coal Creek, which includes community consultation?” he asked.

While other questions posed by Mr Love were addressed during the meeting, the Coal Creek issue wasn’t.

South Gippsland Shire Council promptly responded to the Sentinel-Times request to present council’s point of view, acknowledging the strong community interest in Coal Creek Community Park and Museum.

However, a council spokesperson said it is too early to determine whether Coal Creek should be a focus for specific community engagement through council’s Community Vision.

“Council’s current focus is on undertaking (community) engagement to develop its Community Vision,” the spokesperson said.

It was explained that a range of themes is expected to emerge from the consultation process and that these themes will help set council’s direction for the next three to four years through the Council Plan.

“Council has deliberately not been involved in ‘leading’ or ‘promoting’ any particular topic through the engagement process, but rather allowed the community (members) to generate the topics of most interest to them,” the spokesperson stated.

“Mr Love has been encouraged to participate through the various Vision activities, as have all our community members.”

Should significant interest in Coal Creek arise through the engagement process, that may become a future focus for council.

However, with council still awaiting details from the community engagement process, that is yet to be determined.

“Council has also recently commenced development of a new Arts Culture and Creative Industries Strategy which will also seek feedback on a range of topics and services of interest to the community, including Coal Creek.”

Former engineer, Mr Love has grand visions for Coal Creek, something he said is shared by some Korumburra locals.

One idea is to turn the site into an energy discovery centre, also creating other tourist facilities there, he said.

Mr Love explained the aim is to turn the site into a tourist drawcard, making it self-sufficient, rather than it remaining a significant financial imposition on ratepayers.

“Part of my plan revolves around the VicRoads Highway realignment for the bends at Coal Creek, and in the process of that happening it creates a few small parcels of land which could be annexed to Coal Creek if we close off some of the road that’s no longer needed,” Mr Love said.

An electric vehicle charging station and a hydrogen vehicle fuel station are other aspects of his Coal Creek vision.