Anglesea speaks up about its future

THE plans for the future of Anglesea continue to be hotly contested by some in the community, with related issues being raised at five public meetings in the town within four days.

Corangamite federal member Sarah Henderson held meetings on Friday to discuss the Surf Coast Shire’s submission to the Anglesea Futures draft Land Use Plan to upgrade a track around the former mine into a local road, and on Saturday to talk about the future of the Anglesea Bike Park, followed by a later,  separate meeting alongside Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.

On Sunday, the Anglesea Community Network (ACN) held its second meeting, inviting representatives from the Surf Coast Shire and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning; and the Alcoa Community Consultation Network held its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday.

There is explicit objection among some in the community to the Land Use Plan’s proposal to replace the land now partly occupied by the bike park with residential and accommodation uses, as well as opposition to the shire’s submission in February to the plan to “undertake a study in conjunction with the state government and Alcoa about the opportunities and practicalities of changes to the local road network”.

“An option for consideration includes the existing route along Coalmine Road and Messmate Track, connecting to Harvey Street.” Despite the submission explicitly stating “this will be to assist the movement of local traffic using a local road network and not result in an Anglesea ring road, highway or bypass”, Ms Henderson and some Anglesea residents say the option would be a “pseudo-bypass”.

At Friday’s meeting, Andrew Laird said there was “overwhelming grassroots community opposition” to the proposal, and the shire must unequivocally rule it out. On Wednesday, shire chief executive officer Keith Baillie said councillors would consider a report about its submission to the Land Use Plan at their next meeting.

There is also broader concern about the consultation around the draft Land Use Plan and the options presented so far, with the mood among the audience at Sunday’s ACN meeting continuing to be skeptical that the community’s input and wishes had been fully taken into account and that the proposals were justified by the evidence.