Bowls club expansion rolled out again

IN THE coming weeks, Torquay Bowls Club will lodge plans with the Surf Coast Shire and the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority (GORCAPA) to expand its site on The Esplanade to include a third green.

For the club, which has occupied a parcel of Crown land within Taylor Park since the 1920s and has swelled to a membership of more than 700, the expansion has been billed as a necessary measure to cater to increasing demand.

However, the move has already sparked concern with some locals, including the Friends of Taylor Park, who fear the expansion will further intrude on and harm the flora and fauna that call the park home.

Friends of Taylor Park co-ordinator Ian Convery said the community group, which has been advocating for the nature reserve for more than 30 years, wanted to see Taylor Park preserved as it is for future generations.

He said the group’s main concern was that the Torquay Bowls Club was proposing to share Taylor Park’s only internal car park and suggested this would impact on the other groups, like the Torquay Angling Club, who use the space and create a “massive bottleneck” with the increased traffic through the area.

“We’d [be] getting rid of a reasonable amount of habitat just by putting the [car park] access through and widening the access out onto The Esplanade.

“We’re concerned that the bowls club have an attitude of always expanding.

“Does that mean that they’re going to keep going in the future?”

The proposal from the Torquay Bowls Club marks the second time similar plans have been put forward. The first was knocked back by GORCAPA in 2020 following community consultation and the development of a master plan for the reserve.

 

 

A GORCAPA spokesperson confirmed the authority had received plans from the Torquay Bowls Club to add a third green within the club’s existing lease area, with proposed access to be achieved by upgraded the existing car park in Taylor Park.

“The club is required to engage with the community on the proposal, which will be a requirement to meeting planning approvals,” the spokesperson said.

“We do not have any further time frames from the club on the project at this stage.”

Torquay Bowls Club chair Peter Anderson said the club understood the community’s concerns about the car park and was happy to look at all potential design solutions.

He confirmed the club would lodge a planning application with the shire in approximately four weeks and would be looking to undertake the required approval process with both the shire and GORCAPA concurrently.

“The driveway was already there. Yes, it doesn’t go through [to the Taylor Park car park] at the moment and that would alter the traffic movement, we understand that, but we have to weigh that against the alternatives, or consequences,” Mr Anderson said.

“A lot of locals use the bowls club for all sorts of activities… we want to make the whole thing better for all of Torquay.

“We offered to engage, and we want to engage, with the Friends of Taylor Park and any other community group of people who want to give us some ideas. We’re open to all suggestions.”