PORT PHILLIP CONSERVATION COUNCIL INC. Telephone +61393769442, +61429176725                           12 Burton Street, DROMANA VIC 3936 Facsimile 0395891680 warfej@bigpond.com A0020093K Victoria  www.vicnet.net.au/~phillip ABN 46 291 176 191                                                                                                    8th September 2005

Mr Mark Stone Chief Executive Officer Parks Victoria Dear Mr Stone, Objection to Construction of a Skate Park on the Rosebud Foreshore Reserve Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc. objects to the above proposal, and considers that it should not receive Coastal Management Act 1995 consent for the reasons set out below. PPCC Inc. has received legal advice that if the Minister does furnish such consent, it must be subject to a valid planning permit. l. The proposed site is called the Rotary Park (Melway 170A1), opposite Boneo Road, and is managed by Parks Victoria (“Parks'') on behalf of the Crown. 2. The site is on the Rosebud foreshore. It is zoned Public Park and Recreation Zone under the Mornington Peninsula Planning Scheme (See Map 26), and the site is covered by Environmental Significance Overlay - Schedule 25 (Port Phillip Coastal Areas) (“ESO”), together with various State and Local Frameworks including the Victorian Coastal Strategy (“VCS”), and the document “Victoria’s Native Vegetation Management - A Framework for Action - August 2002”, which is incorporated in the Mornington Peninsula Planning Scheme (“VNVM”). The VNVM states Victoria’s need to retain indigenous vegetation, and stipulates the “Net Gain” principle, whereby indigenous vegetation that is unavoidably removed must be replaced with a greater amount elsewhere. 3. The ESO requires referral of this project to Parks. Parks is thus both the developer and the referral authority. 4. The responsible authority is the MPSC, and the proposal requires a planning permit. 5. The proposed development of the site is not consistent with the VCS, ESO or VNVM on the following grounds: 5.1 the proposal is not dependent on a coastal location; 5.2 the proposal involves the removal and degradation of indigenous vegetation; 5.3 the proposal involves the construction of a permanent concrete structure; 5.4 there is no net benefit to the community or the coastal environment. 6. The proposed development is not consistent with the principles identified by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision P1729/2002 concerning the proposed Rye Foreshore skate park. 7. The high accessibility of the Rosebud foreshore makes the site attractive for a wide variety of coastally dependent uses. 8. The National Parks Act 1975 limits the power of Parks when it comes to carrying out permanent works. It can only construct a permanent structure for the “protection, development or improvement” of the relevant park. Parks would be acting ultra vires if it developed a skate park. 9. No investigation of alternative sites has been carried out by Parks and no analysis of the success of the off-foreshore Rye skate park has been undertaken. 10. The MPSC is the “sponsor” of the development, and is colluding with Parks in an attempt to avoid the operation of the planning permit provisions of the Planning and Environment Act 1987. Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc. calls on Parks Victoria, for the above reasons, to decide to not build skateboard facilities on the publicly owned foreshores of Port Phillip Bay. A copy of this letter has been placed on our Web site above. Yours sincerely Ms Jenny Warfe Secretary Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc. Hon. John Thwaites MLA, Hon. Rob Hulls MLA, Hon. Phil Honeywood MLA, Mr Ted Baillieu MLA, Mr Martin Dixon MLA, Mr Geoff Hilton MLC, Mr Ron Bowden MLC, Mornington Peninsula Leader, The Age