Borough crimps camping in Victoria Park

THE Borough of Queenscliffe aimed to strike a balance between competing community interests in its recently adopted policy for Victoria Park, allowing camping to continue in some areas while others will remain restricted or off limits.

Authorities closed the park in May after storm-damaged trees posed a risk to the public, escalating community concern about the state of the park’s native and foreign vegetation.

Some of the park’s trees were considered to be nearing their end of life, but other vegetation such as remnant indigenous Moonah had been considered to be in decline.

Under council’s latest policy, Victoria Park will remain dual use – both a public park and place for campers – but the latter will be restricted to smaller areas than in the past to allow for protection of existing vegetation and the revegetation of other areas.

There will also be an increase in the vegetated areas where no foot traffic will be allowed.

Councillor Isabelle Tolhurst noted it was a “hot issue” in the community; campers are frustrated by a reduction in available space while others have called for camping to be banned to protect vegetation there.

“There’s been a strong push by the community to have the park’s greenery protected,” Cr Tolhurst explained.

“We want the plants that go in now to be established… we will be planting both natives and exotics, but there’s no assurance we’ll get back what we lost.

“We’ve proscribed that this policy be reviewed in a year, to abide with the wishes of campers, and people passionate about the park’s botanical history.”

After the one-year review, council has committed to reviews every two years thereafter at a minimum.