Calls to put $7.7M Inverloch trail ‘on hold’

BASS Coast Shire Councillor Les Larke has sensationally moved to put the controversial $7.7 million Wonthaggi to Inverloch ‘Inland Trail’ on hold.

The Bunurong Ward Councillor has moved a Notice of Motion, to be debated at this Wednesday’s council meeting, for the whole project to be stopped and the $4.7 million council contribution to be set aside until such time as a business case for the investment of ratepayers’ money is presented.

Meanwhile, there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes.

Some councillors, including Cr Larke, took their first tour along the proposed inland route during the week, inspecting the heavily treed “unused road reserves” off Martyn and Emma lanes.

And Bass Coast council officers met with a delegation of Drowleys Road Inverloch residents, and nearby landowners, in the past week to discuss their concerns.

Two things became clear; the council is determined to go ahead with the inland route regardless of opposition and despite the lack research into the impact of the inland route. The officers could also not say whether the community knew which Inverloch-Wonthaggi route they were supporting (coastal or inland) when they were consulted with in 2016 about the 53 trails in the shire’s much-vaunted Aspirational Pathways Plan.

The Notice of Motion reads as follows: “That Council puts on hold construction of the Wonthaggi to Inverloch Inland Trail (WIIT) and allocation of Council’s proposed contribution of $4.7 million pending presentation to Council of a business case for investing in the WIIT including but not exclusive to:

1. A clear understanding of the strategic alignment between the WITT and the Victorian State Government’s new Yallock-Bulluk Marine and Coastal Park trail to run along the entire 40km of coastline between San Remo and Inverloch.
2. The case for investment in the WIIT including cost/benefit analysis.
3. The health and lifestyle benefits and participation levels for the local Bass Coast Shire Community.
4. The economic benefits of investment in the WIIT including projections for: a. increased annual tourism numbers/expenditure (from out of region visitors) b. annual increase in visitor nights to the region; and c. total direct and indirect full-time jobs created.
5. The conduct of a new and comprehensive communication and engagement strategy in partnership with WIIT stakeholders including the Bass Coast Shire Community as well as the development of alternatives and the identification and/or vindication of any preferred solution.”

Cr Larke has declined to comment on the Notice of Motion, prior to Wednesday’s council meeting, but has previously expressed concern about the lack of a business case estimating route usage and return on investment in terms of jobs and income generated, the lack of direct community consultation on the specific 14km inland route and its likely impact on the preferred community option of a coastal trail.

Despite Cr Larke’s intervention, the officers’ report to council attempts to provide strategic and procedural support for the project.

“This pathway was endorsed as an Advocacy Priority on 11 December 2019, when it was added as a project within the ‘Pathways Visitor Economy Infrastructure’ Project where Council specifically requested a total of $11.05 million of funding towards its top three pathway projects:

• Cowes Rhyll Road (shovel ready 2020) Stage one (Thompson Avenue to Coghlan road) $1.63 million Stage two (Coghlan Road to Rhyll) $1.88 million
• Inverloch to Wonthaggi connection estimated $5.5 million
• Guy Road Corinella (shovel ready) - $2.51 million

The officer goes on to say the trail “aligns with the Climate Change Action Plan and Healthy Communities Plan 2021-25”.

But Drowleys Road resident Vanessa Bostock says many questions remain to be answered.

“The safety issues and unsuitability of the inland route are my main concerns, not just access across Toorak Road but also further along the proposed trail. And given the steepness, who is actually going to be able to use it,” Ms Bostock said.

“And while they’ve given some assurances about not going ahead with a proposed carpark (800 metres up Drowleys Road), they’ve left open the possibility that it will go ahead in the future.”

Ms Bostock said opposition to the inland route was general at the meeting and council officers were consistently unable to answer questions about whether people who were consulted about a trail between Inverloch and Wonthaggi six years ago actually knew they were supporting a route that was well away from the coast, through farmland between the two towns.

Inverloch resident Max Wells has backed calls for the shire to review its decision to support an inland route over a coastal pathway between Inverloch, Cape Paterson and Wonthaggi but he has also called for an inquiry into how such a poorly supported option could receive council approval with out the necessary feasibility studies and impact reports being carried out.