Crugnale says woodlands overlay now rests with council
The Bass MP and Bass Coast council trade blame over interim woodlands protection as the clock ticks down to caretaker on November 3.
STATE Bass MP Jordan Crugnale has thrown her support behind an interim Environmental Significance Overlay for the Western Port Woodlands while placing responsibility for getting it over the line with Bass Coast Shire Council.
An Environmental Significance Overlay (ESO) is a planning control for land with important environmental values and can require a permit to clear native vegetation.
The woodlands stretch across public and private land between Lang Lang and Bass and hold Bass Coast’s largest area of remnant native vegetation, including habitat for the southern brown bandicoot, powerful owl and critically endangered Strzelecki gum.
Council wants an interim overlay in place until 2028 to protect them while it completes the biodiversity studies and mapping needed for permanent controls, work it has committed $500,000 towards.
In a statement released on Tuesday October 6, Ms Crugnale said she had supported an ESO for the woodlands all along, including an interim one while work on permanent protections was completed.
“To everyone writing to me calling on the State to approve the ESO: I agree with you,” Ms Crugnale said.
“I want it approved too. I will continue to advocate for Council to submit the required material to the Department of Transport and Planning so the Interim ESO can progress as soon as possible.”
Ms Crugnale said the State had not rejected the interim ESO, with the department instead seeking further information from council to enable a proper assessment.
Council asked the Minister for Planning to approve the overlay on June 12.
On September 14 the department wrote to council chief executive Greg Box requesting ecological studies, mapping, evidence linking the biodiversity values to the land, the timeline for permanent controls and evidence of stakeholder engagement, all within 14 days.
“It is very disappointing that after taking almost a year to formally lodge its application for an interim ESO, Council did not initially provide the fundamental information required for DTP to properly assess it,” Ms Crugnale said.
“These are not peripheral details. They are the fundamental pieces of evidence needed to support the planning controls being sought.
“Council should be working constructively with the Woodlands groups, environmental experts, Traditional Owners and other stakeholders to ensure every available resource is brought together in support of the application.”
She urged those lobbying the State to turn their advocacy to council.
“Responsibility for preparing and substantiating the interim ESO application rests with Council,” Ms Crugnale said.
She welcomed council’s September 24 response, which the department is now assessing.
The State Government endorsed the Bass Coast Statement of Planning Policy in October 2025, identifying the woodlands as environmentally significant and the need for further ecological assessment to inform future protections.
Council has a different view of the delay, saying in May that it had tabled a draft ESO with the Distinctive Areas and Landscapes advisory committee and the State Government had said no.
Bass Coast Mayor Cr Brett Tessari said last month that council had completed the work, funded the investigations and responded to every request, and urged the State to act before caretaker provisions start on November 3 ahead of the November 28 state election.
“The next step is for the State Government to act,” Cr Tessari said.
“Every month without adequate safeguards in place increases the risk that its environmental values could be lost forever.”
Council is also asking Minister for Resources and Energy Jaclyn Symes to remove the remaining Extractive Industry Interest Areas from the woodlands, which it says leave them exposed to future sand mining.
