Shire seeks major changes to draft SPP

THE Surf Coast Shire is calling for major changes to the proposed planning controls for Torquay and Jan Juc, arguing the final plan must consider the town’s “social and economic future” as well as its environmental values.

Councillors considered their official response to the draft Surf Coast Statement of Planning Policy (SPP) at their meeting on Tuesday night, ahead of the scheduled closure of submissions on January 29.

The draft SPP – part of the wider Surf Coast Distinctive Areas and Landscapes (DAL) process – aims to ensure long-term protection of the declared area’s unique coastal environments, cultural heritage, natural resources and townships, and will include a 50-year vision to make this happen.

The shire’s submission states the DAL’s focus on protection of the environment and landscapes is “a worthy goal”, but if the SPP was planning the future of Torquay and Jan Juc for the next five decades, “the plan also needs to contemplate the social and economic future of the town in the way that current structure plans are developed”.

“An SPP that has status at state level and is difficult to change may be problematic if economic and social issues are not accommodated.”

It then lists several issues, including:

• The need to create an extra 2,900 jobs in the Surf Coast – 85 per cent of those in Torquay – by 2036 to keep pace with population growth and not increase commuter travel
• The SPP’s lack of considering where those jobs will be located within the next 16 years or the 34 years after that
• About 7,000 people now commute daily to Geelong and Melbourne from the Surf Coast and provisions must be made to accommodate professional workers locally
• The SPP does not provide a platform for making the most of tourism over the next 50 years – “This is likely to result in Torquay being incapable of capitalising on visitation (accommodation, retail, hospitality) but still bearing the burden of public infrastructure expectations (parking, beach visits, vehicles)”
• The commercial areas in the SPP do not allow for expansion in areas such as Gilbert Street, which will see intensification of use, loss of eclectic weatherboard houses on The Esplanade, and a “likely shifting of the coastal town centre” to somewhere with more land available such as Baines Crescent.

The submission states the DAL has an ambition to protect the “character of Torquay” but character is only defined from the environmental aspect “and is silent on many others”, including Torquay’s status as a tourist destination, a place of innovation, and a coastal town within an hour’s drive of several million people.

“Neglecting these traits places at risk the fundamental character traits that make Torquay the town that it is.”

At the meeting, Cr Kate Gazzard successfully moved the submission be amended to show the council’s explicit endorsement of Option 2 (which rules out development in Spring Creek) to “reflect the council’s long-held aspirations for the future of the Spring Creek valley and the views of the majority of people in the community”.

The submission states the final decision rests with Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne, who should “give due consideration to all community feedback on the draft SPP when making a final determination on this matter”.

For more information on the draft SPP or to make a submission, head to engage.vic.gov.au/distinctive-areas-and-landscapes-program/surf-coast.