Shire may buy Anglesea Bike Park land from Alcoa

THE Surf Coast Shire has stepped up a gear in its response to the future of the Anglesea Bike Park, offering to spend half a million dollars to buy land and keep the park where it is.

Thousands of people have objected to the proposal in the Anglesea Futures plan to rezone the Alcoa-owned land in Camp Road partly occupied by the bike park for housing and tourist accommodation.

The shire is investigating alternate sites for the bike park and has short-listed seven possible new locations down to three, but a report presented to councillors on Tuesday states that even the best of these – on Crown land next to Anglesea Primary School – was “not sufficiently attractive to pursue relocation” and would cost up to $1.5 million to establish, excluding the cost of land.

In response, officers recommended that the council ask Alcoa to lease the land on a month-by-month basis until the rezoning was resolved, and then offer $500,000 to buy the land should Alcoa still want to go ahead.

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