Sand mining overlay lifted in win for woodlands campaigners

The sand mining overlay hanging over some of the most fiercely defended bushland in the Western Port Woodlands has been lifted, including from the entire Holden Proving Ground.

The state government has removed Extractive Industry Interest Areas from parts of the Bass Coast where it says they are no longer needed, stripping the sand mining flag from the old Holden Proving Ground, sections over Adams Creek and the Lang Lang Foreshore, and land around Candowie Reservoir.

For the Save Western Port Woodlands group, which has campaigned since 2020 to end sand mining in the coastal woodland corridor, it is the biggest win yet.

"Removing the overlay from the Western Port Woodlands has been our number one priority, so this is a significant step in the long campaign to protect the woodlands," group spokesperson Catherine Watson said.

Ms Watson said the group hoped the overlay would next be lifted from the large stretch of woodland between Hurdy Gurdy Creek and the Grantville Nature Conservation Reserve.

"We will continue to press for an Environmental Significance Overlay as the best means of protecting the Western Port Woodlands," she said.

State Bass MP Jordan Crugnale, who announced the change alongside Energy and Resources Minister Lily D'Ambrosio, said the key pieces were coming together.

"We all want to see this area protected," Ms Crugnale said.

"The rich biodiversity of the Westernport Woodlands and surrounding landscape is too important to lose."

Ms Crugnale said the move came after the Distinctive Areas and Landscapes declaration and the endorsed Statement of Planning Policy, and complemented the council's bid for an interim Environmental Significance Overlay now being assessed by the Planning Minister's department.

The Government stressed the update did not approve any new quarries or remove the need for future approvals, and that selected interest areas would be kept where they cover existing quarries or an existing strategic sand resource.

All quarry proposals would still have to meet planning, environmental, cultural heritage and regulatory requirements.

Ms D'Ambrosio said the decision gave the community more certainty about quarry development while protecting the environment.

The woodlands stretch from Lang Lang to Grantville and form the largest remnant of intact coastal woodlands in the region, home to threatened species including the Southern Brown Bandicoot, Powerful Owl and Strzelecki gum.

The former Holden Proving Ground near Lang Lang, at 877 hectares the largest uncleared bushland in Bass Coast, sits at the heart of the woodlands and has been the campaigners' prime target for protection.

Bass Coast Shire Council is also chasing $500,000 from the state government to map biolinks and put planning controls in place, and has flagged making the woodlands an issue at November's state election.