Bass Coast Shire moves to block Lang Lang cash grab for San Remo spoils

FEARS that a proposed state government merger of coastal management committees could see San Remo foreshore funds diverted to fix coastal problems in Lang Lang has prompted swift action from Bass Coast Shire Council.

Councillors voted to formally write to the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate action (DEECA) to halt a proposed merger of the San Remo and Lang Lang foreshore committees.

Bass Coast is instead seeking to step in and take direct responsibility for managing its own coastline. The resolution, introduced through a motion raised by Cr Jan Thompson, outlined a clear four-point plan to protect local assets.

Under the plan council would officially express immediate interest in entering into discussions with DEECA to become the formal committee of management for the San Remo foreshore.

Crucially, the motion requested that DEECA freeze any progress on merging the San Remo and Lang Lang committees while these discussions took place. It also demanded that all rental funds currently sitting idle within the San Remo foreshore committee reserve be strictly quarantined for exclusive use on San Remo projects.

The administrative backstory reveals a complex, informal arrangement that has left the local coastline in a state of operational limbo. Currently, the official committees of management for both San Remo and Lang Lang are entirely made up of DEECA departmental officers. However, after the original San Remo foreshore committee ceased operations in 2010, Bass Coast Shire Council stepped in to take responsibility for the maintenance of the San Remo foreshore.

This maintenance has since been carried out without any formal agreement, recognition, or financial compensation from the state government for the past 16 years.

Further complicating local management, the owners of the San Remo beachfront caravan park have found themselves caught in the middle of the bureaucratic crossfire.

The caravan park operates under a lease that is technically overseen by the DEECA-led committee, yet day-to-day operational realities mean the park constantly deals with council staff.

Local residents and business owners have expressed deep anxiety that if the merger goes ahead, the substantial revenue generated by the caravan park lease will be siphoned away from San Remo.

There are growing worries that these local funds will instead be spent addressing the severe, ongoing coastal erosion and infrastructure issues facing the Lang Lang foreshore, which sits outside the Bass Coast Shire boundary.

Cr Thompson argued that Bass Coast ratepayers have effectively subsidised the state government's responsibilities for over a decade emphasising that any revenue generated on San Remo land must stay in San Remo to fund local amenities, pathway upgrades, and coastal protection works.

Local community groups have strongly backed the council's aggressive stance, stating that a merger would strip the community of its voice and dilute its financial resources.

Cr Jon Temby said DEECA’s proposal to merge the San Remo and Lang Lang foreshore committees potentially would mean that none of the money to upgrade the San Remo foreshore would be spent locally.

“As Lang Lang is clearly suffering from climate change impacts, it could get all of the San Remo funds. That risk is unacceptable. We need to be the official managers of the San Remo foreshore to ensure that we can benefit from the allocated funds as intended and have greater ongoing control over what happens in this special part of the shire.”

Cr Rochelle Halstead said Bass Coast Shire had for years taken on the mowing and maintenance of the foreshore from ratepayer’s funds even though DEECA had continued to collect the caravan park revenue.

With Lang Lang under threat from coastal erosion, Cr Halstead there was no other reason for DEECA to try and get their hands on money that should have been spent on the San Remo foreshore, other than to prop up Lang Lang coastal erosion needs.