Bass Coast tells state Western Port Woodlands cannot wait

BASS Coast Shire Council has called on the State Government to urgently act on interim planning protections for the Western Port Woodlands.

The call follows the council submitting a comprehensive response to the Department of Transport and Planning’s request for further information.

In June, the council asked the Minister for Planning to introduce interim Environmental Significance Overlay controls through Amendment C181.

The proposed controls would run until 2028, protecting one of Victoria’s most significant areas of remnant biodiversity while longer-term planning work continues.

The Department of Transport and Planning took more than three months to consider the council’s request, then wrote to the council on September 14 seeking additional information and requiring a response within 14 days.

Bass Coast Mayor Brett Tessari said the council had provided a comprehensive response and urged the State Government to act before caretaker provisions start on November 3.

“The significance of these woodlands is well established,” Cr Tessari said.

“The need for protection has been recognised through extensive strategic planning work, advocacy from our community and recommendations of independent planning processes.

“Council has completed the work, funded the investigations, responded to every request and advocated consistently for these woodlands.

“The next step is for the State Government to act.”

The Western Port Woodlands stretch across public and private land between Lang Lang and Bass.

They contain Bass Coast’s largest area of remnant native vegetation and provide critical habitat and wildlife corridors for threatened species including the southern brown bandicoot, powerful owl and critically endangered Strzelecki gum.

The council’s response includes further information requested by the department covering biodiversity values, mapping methodologies, strategic planning work and stakeholder engagement.

The Bass Coast Statement of Planning Policy identifies the woodlands as an area of environmental significance.

Independent ecology experts commissioned for the Standing Advisory Committee process by the minister, the council and conservation groups agreed the woodlands are nationally significant and irreplaceable, with cumulative impacts from extractive industries posing a significant conservation threat.

The council has committed $500,000 towards biodiversity investigations and strategic planning work to help establish long-term protections for the area.

It is also calling on newly appointed Minister for Resources and Energy Jaclyn Symes to reconsider the Extractive Industry Interest Areas that leave the woodlands exposed to potential future sand mining.

The Strategic Extractive Resource Area project identified sand resources at nearby Nyora West, Lang Lang and Trafalgar, and the council wants the State Government to consider those sites instead.

Those interest areas were exposed after the Minister for Planning gazetted Amendment VC313 last week and exempted herself from public consultation on the changes.

The amendment changes every planning scheme in Victoria to require councils to facilitate resource extraction in these areas and avoid land uses the minister has deemed incompatible, where previously councils only had to notify Resources Victoria of applications.

Cr Tessari said the next move was squarely up to the State Government.

“Last year the Minister for Planning described the Statement of Planning Policy as a shared responsibility,” he said.

“Council has done everything it can, and we now want the Carroll Government to join us in decisive action.

“There is a clear pathway available to provide interim protection while longer-term planning investigations continue.

“The Minister for Planning must act to introduce interim controls, and the Minister for Resources and Energy must remove the remaining Extractive Industry Interest Areas from the woodlands.

“The woodlands cannot afford further uncertainty.

“Every month without adequate safeguards in place increases the risk that its environmental values could be lost forever.”