GT Alliance open to meeting with Spring Creek developers

THE Greater Torquay Alliance is willing to consider a meeting about the future of Spring Creek with two of its proposed developers, who believe there may be common ground in a community-driven Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) for the land to the west of Duffields Road.

Parkland and Okeland Communities, which own land in the Spring Creek valley, say they have made requests for meetings with South Barwon Labor MP Darren Cheeseman and the leadership of local community groups to discuss their preferences in the Statement of Planning Policy (SPP) created as part of the Surf Coast Distinctive Area and Landscape (DAL) process.

The developers are in favour of Option 1 in the SPP, which earmarks the land in the valley one kilometre west of Duffields Road between Grossmans Road and the Great Ocean Road as a “low density ecologically sustainable development area”.

Option 2, favoured by the community groups, sets the settlement boundary at Duffields Road and allows no development in the valley at all.

In 2017, following the shire’s adoption of the Spring Creek PSP and its subsequent negotiations with an independent planning panel, nine community groups – including the 3228 Residents Association and the Surf Coast Energy Group (SCEG) – collaborated on an alternative PSP, which contained much more open space and even lower housing densities.

At the time, SCEG spokesperson Graeme Stockton said the alternative PSP was “never ever about arguing the intricacies of the Urban Growth Zone planning laws, rather recognising that state planning laws are hopelessly outdated and blind to the environmental challenges of the 21st century”.

Last month, Okeland Communities owner Cameron Shephard said local landowners had reached out to a representative of 3228RA to discuss this alternate PSP but the offer was rejected.

“The best planning outcomes come through a combination of expert planning advice, community consultation and compromise,” Mr Shephard said. “Outcomes don’t occur when discussions are not held and suggestions are dismissed.”

Mr Shephard and Parklea director Don Welsh also sent an email asking for a meeting to the GT Alliance on November 4, and forwarded a copy of that email to this newspaper, which was then forwarded to GT Alliance.

In his reply to the developers, GT Alliance secretary Darren Noyes-Brown said his group never received the email but would “be happy to have a meeting with you in Torquay at a suitable time, outside of the Christmas rush”, and suggested the developers outline the topics they would like to discuss.

Mr Cheeseman has consistently rejected a meeting with the developers, and affirmed his stance in late December.

“Spring Creek developers have not formally requested a meeting with me in months, and my position remains the same,” he said. “I have no interest in meeting with people who want to put thousands of houses into the iconic Spring Creek valley.”

Public consultation on the SPP closes on January 22.

For more information on the Surf Coast DAL or to download the SPP, head to engage.vic.gov.au/distinctive-areas-and-landscapes-program/surf-coast.