Spring back: Community groups reject claims about benefits of Spring Creek PSP

COMMUNITY groups in Torquay have strongly pushed back against claims of possible benefits to development in Spring Creek, saying the proposals are misleading and have no support from locals.
The Surf Coast Distinctive Area and Landscape (DAL) process will create a Statement of Planning Policy (SPP), which will, among other measures, determine permanent town boundaries for towns such as Torquay.
If part of Torquay’s western town boundary is brought back to Duffields Road – a move supported by many in the community and campaigned on by South Barwon Labor MP Darren Cheeseman – it will invalidate the Spring Creek Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) and stop developers from building on that land.
In this newspaper last week, developers with an interest in the Spring Creek land again spruiked the benefits of allowing the Spring Creek PSP to proceed, including that they “have worked with governments, council and community groups for more than a decade”.
In a letter to the editor on behalf of the Surf Coast Energy Group committee, Graeme Stockton disputed this, saying “at no stage in this 13 year battle to save Spring Creek have the developers ever had community support” and the developers were now “desperate”.
“Seventeen hundred houses stretching from the Great Ocean Road all the way across the valley to Grossmans Road is not what the community wants. More cars and more congestion in our township, and more pressure on our beloved beaches is not what our community wants either.
“We want what we already have – open space, and room for nature. These things may not make developers rich, but they matter to our community and we will make sure we protect it.”
The Greater Torquay Alliance rejected the developers’ views about Spring Creek being “confirmed for future development”, stating the planning status of the valley had been in flux since 1980 and both Labor and the Liberals had made competing decisions about development of the first kilometre west of Duffields Road while being aware of the community and the council’s opposition to development.
GT Alliance also say the Spring Creek PSP would not rehabilitate the creek, as the 1,700 houses would significantly reduce water quality and compromise the creek’s health.
“Good planning happens when it is done by and for the community, not solely for the developers,” GT Alliance president Andrew Cherubin said
“We welcome the DAL process and we hope that once a new planning statement is in place a full and comprehensive overhaul of the Surf Coast planning scheme will take place that effectively incorporates the new policy. We encourage the Surf Coast Shire council to listen to and collaborate genuinely with the community on this”.