On yer bike, sunshine!

SENTINEL-TIMES COMMENT

THERE are some fantastic initiatives contained in the Yallock-Bulluk Marine and Coastal Park Access and Infrastructure Plan, especially as it relates to the magnificent Bunurong Coastal Drive between Inverloch and Cape Paterson.

A feature of the plan is a “complete walking and cycling trail connecting the 40km of coastal landscapes between San Remo and Inverloch and providing improved visitor amenities to better engage with attractions along the coast”.

This pathway and significant investment ($19.6 million initially) in visitor amenities that provide better access to the beaches and features including Eagles Nest and the proposed dinosaur trail, is also designed to attract visitors to the towns along the route and the service businesses therein.

It comes at a great time to help manage the increasing numbers of visitors coming to this area from Melbourne’s exploding eastern suburbs, but also as we emerge from the pandemic.

So, what you wouldn’t like to see is a world-class opportunity nobbled by the outcomes of the Cape-to-Cape Resilience Project, as is being suggested deep in the Yallock-Bulluk report.

“The Cape-to-Cape Resilience Project is investigating the erosion and inundation of the coast at Inverloch and surrounds through a coastal hazard assessment (CHA) and extensive community engagement. The CHA will provide advice about the existing and predicted coastal processes and the recommendations will inform the future planning for other road connections. This will provide guidance around the future for the trail along Bunurong Coastal Drive.”

OK, good, we appreciate a study has to be done, but it doesn’t have to kill off the plan of establishing a walking and cycling trail around the Bunurong Coast, that might do two other things at the same time – fix up a truly dangerous road and enhance and protect the environmental values of the area with boardwalks and extensive native revegetation.

The other thing we don’t want to see is people, who already have their paradise by the coast, working behind the scenes, trying to stop others from having the same enjoyment.

Because, the fact is, whether they want to live locally or simply visit, the people are already coming here in large numbers and a project that offers safe access while protecting the environment is one that’s desperately needed, especially between Inverloch and Cape Paterson.

Those with a secret agenda to destroy the generational opportunity presented by a Bunurong Coastal Trail should get on their bike, via the ‘Inland Route’ and keep on going.