A word from the Chairman – November 23, 2017

The Committee for Lorne (CfL) recently hosted its final joint agency meeting for 2017 with the Surf Coast Shire and Great Ocean Road Coast Committee coming together. It was great to welcome new Surf Coast mayor David Bell to the meeting for the first time in his new role and round off a year where the full commitment of agency representatives has been unwavering and fully appreciated by the Lorne Community.

It was interesting to hear that funds have been set aside in the current budget for the background study prior to the start of the review of the Lorne Strategy and Structure Plan 2003. Preliminary work is likely to start in March. Of equal interest to the CfL is the governance model under which the review will be undertaken and I’m sure it comes as no surprise that the CfL is advocating that process be a similar model to the highly successful and now widely used “Stribling Reserve Model”.

We will continue to loby for strong community involvement in this process and the recent work being completed by the CfL on the Aspirations for Lorne and Accommodating Lorne’s Future documents will provide a well researched platform to assist and guide the needs of our community in the future.

As we go to press, the 2017 VCE exams will be complete and our school leavers will disperse to celebrate the completion of the schooling journey as part of the annual “Schoolies” celebration. Many will descend into Lorne again this year. As a parent of an 18-year-old young lady heading to Byron Bay, I have been interested to follow the reported behavioural patterns of the kids on the national news front.

While all appears to be very orderly, I have really admired the work up north being done by the Red Frogs, a group of approximately 2,000 volunteers who aim to support school leavers through their week-long celebrations at Schoolies Week, and provide a positive presence within their party culture. The Red Frog Crew assist school leavers by walking them home, cooking pancakes, cleaning their rooms, handing out Allen’s Red Frogs and most importantly – offering emotional support thorough what can often be an emotional week.

These fantastic group of volunteers will descend on Lorne this weekend to support our young visitors and along with our local police and commercial operators look to provide a welcoming, safe environment. I also learnt that this year our Lorne Op-Shop has made a contribution to assist the Red Frogs and the great work they do through Schoolies week in Lorne – brilliant!

Don’t forget our final Community Luncheon for 2018 scheduled for Friday December 1 at the View at the Lorne Hotel. If you haven’t confirmed please do so by RSVP to [email protected]. It will be a great opportunity to listen to Luke Nisbet from Live Wire Park talk about this exciting new project in Lorne.

Ian Stewart
Chairman – Committee for Lorne