 |
|
|
|
A0020093K Victoria
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A0020093K Victoria
|
|
|
| VCAT Order Stops Skateboard and BMX Facility Proposed for the Rye Foreshore |
The March 2002 PPCC Inc. Newsletter stated
that PPCC Inc. had written to Mornington
Peninsula Shire Council objecting to its proposal to build a Skateboard
and BMX bicycle riding facility on the public foreshore reserve shown in
the photograph below, just east of the Rye Jetty, and that grounds for
the objection included:
 These grounds were explained by two PPCC Inc. representatives in detail at a Consultation Meeting called by the proponent, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, and attended by other objectors. Sadly we failed to persuade the Council that the proposal was misconceived and that it amounted to an unwarranted intrusion of an inappropriate development on a precious part of the Port Phillip environment, the narrow coastal reserve. The PPCC Inc. Committee of Management resolved that it would appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to review the Shire's proposal and order that it not proceed. By that time the proposal had received ministerial consent under Victoria's Coastal Management Act. PPCC Inc. was represented at the VCAT review by its Senior Vice-President, Mr Len Warfe, who worked with other objectors to mount a strong and convincing case. The outcome, which was announced in January 2003, was that VCAT ordered that the proposal should not proceed. It his published written judgement, the VCAT member presiding at the review indicated that the essential reason for making his order was that the skateboard use proposed was not a coast-dependent use. He stated that the Victorian Coastal Strategy, which the Coastal Management Act requires be formulated and adopted by the Victorian Government, provides that proposals for land use that were not coast-dependent should not be approved for coastal land, which is very scarce, and is under very great demand for coast-dependent uses alone. The judgement by VCAT is a straightforward interpretation of Section
21 of the Coastal
Management Act, which states,
The judgement adds a most worthwhile precedent of legal enforcement of the Act on the land managers specified in the Coastal Management Act. |
|
|
Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc. has made
a submission to an Independent Panel reporting
to the Planning Minister on local controversy over plans by Parks
Victoria for management of the newly announced Point Gellibrand Heritage
Park, at Williamstown.
 Many submissions from Williamstown opposed the plan by Parks Victoria to relocate, further inland, the roadway that presently runs along, and very close to, the coast in this park, as can be seen in the photograph above PPCC Inc. warned of the incompatibility between a road, with its noise and distractions, and the key feature of a coastline protected by a park designation. A Williamstown resident and a former Premier of Victoria, Hon. Joan Kirner, presented the panel with a similar view to that of PPCC Inc., but that view was not supported by Hobsons Bay City Council. |
|
|