Can’t see the beach for the trees

AN article by Royce Millar and Josh Gordon in The Age on the weekend warned that the State Government may be preparing to strip Victorian councillors of their planning powers.

Their information allegedly comes from ‘senior state and local government figures’ who have been consulted about the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission’s inquiry into practices at the nearby Casey Council.

And while there’s certainly no suggestion such excesses have occurred in this area, the idea that government is taking a closer interest in statutory and strategic planning isn’t an alien idea to those following the Bass Coast Distinctive Areas and Landscapes (DAL) process.

Under the guise of protecting our coastal landscapes, the Department of Transport and Planning wants to lock up all of the shire’s coastal towns behind ‘Protected Settlement Boundaries’ for 50 years and lock out all reasonable local input and flexibility.

But local councils and local communities will only have themselves to blame if the State Government ultimately takes meaningful decision making out of local hands.

Last Thursday, May 11 for example, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal handed down its decision in the case of the South Gippsland Conservation Society versus the Bass Coast Shire

Council over plans to build a four-storey ‘residential hotel’ right in the middle of Inverloch, at 2-4 The Esplanade.

The reality is that there should be no development whatsoever on the foreshore side of the central business district in Inverloch.

The old Inverloch Marine site and the conservation society’s own premises (owned by the council), should be cleared away and an attractive park, beach and boardwalk setting, offering spectacular views of Anderson Inlet and the coast, should be developed for everyone to enjoy, locals and visitors alike.

You shouldn’t have to be a multi-millionaire to be able to enjoy a view of the water at Inverloch while having a bite to eat, a cup of coffee or a beer.

And providing a managed space for visitors and locals to enjoy their trip to the beach, right in town (where the primary objective is supposed to be public amenity), while protecting the broad spread of the fragile coast must surely be the overriding goal.

Now the way is clear for developers to plonk an apartment block right in the middle of everything, between the main street and the beach. Come on!

And it’s not their fault. They own the land and have the right.

The fact is, we haven’t done strategic or statutory planning well. Council’s aspiration for a 7-metre height limit in Inverloch is a case in point, where lack of controls have allowed developers to win case after case for three storeys and 11 metres.

But equally, the practice by green groups and others of opposing everything hasn’t helped either. It has almost completely nobbled good strategic planning by making the process nigh on impossible and best avoided.

Maybe it’s not too late for Inverloch, though, if the developers, Parks and the council could put their heads together and come up with a new plan, utilising the whole area from Wyeth-McNamara Park to the bowls club, that gives them their 40 apartments, and maybe even a bar and café, but also opens public access and a clear view to the beach from the middle of town.

If we’ve got to lose a few sticks of scrubby coastal bush to achieve a better outcome, then so be it.