Bass Coast Council 'yes' to Surf Parade one-way option but...

THE Bass Coast Shire Council has just voted on the fate of Inverloch’s shared pathway.

And they’ve voted to go ahead with the one-way option for Surf Parade in order to get the final stage of the pathway, between Ozone Street and Goroke Street (surf lifesaving club), finished.

But, and it’s a big but… if the community comes out strongly against the one-way option for Surf Parade, during a new community consultation process, the project might still be stopped.

Cr Brett Tessari, who told council that the shared pathway had been an issue long before he came to council, received a guarantee from the shire’s administration, that if strong opposition could be demonstrated, the final stage of the pathway would be abandoned, and the State Government grant funds lost.

The shire has confirmed that about $1 million in State Government grant finding would be at risk of being resumed by the government if the final stage of the path doesn't go ahead.

Several councillors, including Cr Meg Edwards who attended the meeting by video link, had their say on the Surf Parade Shared Pathway project, with Cr Edwards urging councillors to wait until after the next State Election, with the prospect that the Coalition might win and make good on a promise to introduce permanent protection for the Inverloch foreshore.

Cr Edwards said she believed it was an indication of DEECA’s own lack of confidence in their foreshore protection works that they were refusing to accommodate the shared pathway, while retaining parking and a continuation of a two-way section of Surf Parade.

Here’s what Cr Tessari had to say

“Madam Chair, the Inverloch shared pathway stage 3b has been going on forever and a day. I get that the community is over it and to be honest, I'm almost feeling the same.

“The fact is, what was agreed upon and what was wanted all those years ago cannot happen. We've lost 50 metres of foreshore since those glory days and that plan was adopted.

“So, here we stand right now, a line in the sand, so to speak. We have three options, pathway with parking, which includes a one-way strip for the last remaining part, and sending the traffic up the obvious way into town along Toorak Road. A pathway with no parking, but we leave it as is.

“I've heard all along that the most important part of this project is the pathway. The second part is the parking. Now I've met with a lot of community members, prominent community members, that agree that the pathway was number one, parking was number two. And if the only way to make this happen was a one-way strip, then they would support it.

“Unfortunately, they have gone quiet since there was a little bit of backlash in the community, but the fact is, they knew that this was the only way that this was going to happen.

“Now, if this is knocked over today, the money goes back to the state, and any future possible scenarios have to rely on us seeking the funding again for a project that was funded, but we had to return the money.

“So, this project has been consulted within an inch of its life, but right now, to endorse this today and go back to the community, I encourage everyone to have their say, not on what could have been a dozen to 15 years ago, but on what is in front of us right now. Have your say, yes or no, let's get on with this project and hopefully have this finished before my council term’s finished, because it was going on before I started 10 years ago. So, let's get the project done,” said Cr Tessari.

Cr Jon Temby said there was strong support for the pathway to continue, and given the environmental constraints, this was the best way to go. He said there would need to be sufficient signage to ensure cars returned by the recommended route.

Cr Morgan was having 50 cents each-way. He said the one-way option wasn’t his preferred option, but he also feared the state government funding would be lost. He said he would be voting against the proposal but was also keen to see the community response.

Hold off doing the wrong thing, says Cr Edwards

Cr Edwards was a firm ‘no’ to making a section of Surf Parade one-way, that if the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) was confident about its protection works it would allow for a continuation of the works in their present form, pathway, parking and a two-way road.

“The very clear message that I'm getting, and have done for many years on this issue, is to do it as it was intended to be,” said Cr Edwards, claiming that the community was insulted about being asked their opinion again.

“When are we going to start to listen? Because their message has been incredibly clear. That hasn't changed, and that is the path, with the two-way traffic and leaving the road as it is, with the path on the side.”

Cr Edwards said she favoured postponing the works until after the election because a change of government could result in more permanent erosion mitigation works being undertaken, allowing the shared pathway in the preferred form to go ahead.

“The reason being is that we have an election in about 10 months’ time, and we have a coalition opposition who have committed to permanent protection works at Inverloch, as opposed to retreat. I was the only councillor to not endorse retreat as part of the (Distinctive Areas and Landscapes (DAL) SPP last year.”

She said the Coalition had committed to permanent protective works of Inverloch foreshore.

“If there's a chance of permanent protective works on the Inverloch foreshore coming off in the medium term, then surely the priority now has to be, let's get the beach right. Let's get the erosion right, because that's been given by DEECA as the reason why they're not prepared to do the path and the two-way traffic,” said Cr Edwards.

“So, if DEECA believe that their current temporary works of putting sand on the beach is going to (do the job), they're showing a lack of confidence in their own current dredging process, if they're saying we can no longer have the path and the two-way traffic.

“So, I say, let's hold off for 12 months. Yes, we potentially lose the funding, but the funding is for something that nobody's happy with.”

Cr Ron Bauer chipped in asking if council had exhausted its attempts to get DEECA to agree to the small amount of vegetation removal needed to put the path through, while keeping the parking and the two-way road.

“Yes, on the removal of the vegetation, we’ve been advised that it would not receive Marine and Coastal Act consent, nor would the State Government consent to a planning permit being issued for vegetation removal. That advice has been consistent since around 2021,” said General Manager Future Places Donna Taylor at Wednesday’s meeting.

Cr Tessari closed the debate by asking Ms Taylor about further consultation and if it came out strongly against the one-way option, whether council would be able to respond by scrapping the project.

Yes, said Ms Taylor.

Bass Coast Shire statement

At its meeting this week, the Bass Coast Shire Council resolved to start the formal process of inviting public submissions to the one-way proposal for Surf Parade in Inverloch as part of the final stage of the Surf Parade Shared Path.

The proposal would change Surf Parade to one-way traffic between Ozone Street and Goroke Street with traffic heading east to west away from town, to allow for the construction of the final stage of the path and include car parking.

Inverloch has seen significant loss of sand dunes along Surf Parade over the last few years. Due to this coastal erosion, there is not room to build a shared path with car parking while retaining two-way traffic without using the coastal reserve which the state government, who manages the reserve, will not support.

Council consulted with the community in 2023 to find out whether in constructing the extension of the Shared Path they would prefer to have a two-way road with no car parking or a one-way road with car parking. In May 2024, Council adopted the option of including car parking and changing this section of road to one-way, inviting submissions about the one-way traffic proposal is the next step in the process.

For more information, see the Bass Coast Shire Council website HERE