The City of Greater Geelong has released the draft Southeast Bellarine Coast (4W-Collendina) Coastal and Marine Management Plan (CMMP) until the 7 August for community feedback.

A Coastal and Marine Management Plan is a public document prepared under the Marine and Coastal Act 2018 and approved by the Minister for Energy Environment and Climate Change. It establishes an agreement between the Victorian Government the land manager and the community as to how an area of coastal Victoria will be managed.

The development of the draft CMMP was informed by extensive wide-spread community engagement with community landholder tourism and land manager stakeholders as well as the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. It has been drafted in consultation with the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning.

The project incorporates the dune system and woodlands along the Crown land section of southern coast of the Bellarine that are part of the Buckley Park Foreshore Reserve.

The area has extensive and significant cultural heritage and historical sites and plays a vital role as a dune system in the protection of coastal and climate change impacts.

The vision for the draft CMMP is ensuring and replenishing coastal and marine ecosystems to support nature whilst fostering cultural connection and community stewardship.

To achieve the vision there are five key objectives:

• Acknowledge Traditional Owners’ rights aspirations and knowledge
• Protect and enhance the marine and coastal environment
• Respect natural processes and strengthen resilience to climate change
• Use and develop sustainably; and
• Promote stewardship and collaborative management.

City of Greater Geelong Mayor Peter Murrihy;

The CMMP is about setting a long-term vision and ensuring the protection and management of significant coastal and marine environments. 

The Southeast Bellarine Coast (4W-Collendina) CMMP sets the vision priority actions and outcomes we aim to achieve in this area over the next ten years.

Bellarine Ward Councillor Trent Sullivan;

I encourage residents to share their views via the Council’s Your Say page.

The Bellarine Peninsula Southern Coast is proposed as an area of State significance under the Distinctive Area and Landscape.

It is important that we continue to do what we can to meet the needs of this unique remote and environmentally and culturally significant coastal environment.

We must consider the impacts of tourists and our growing population whose enjoyment of this coastline need to be balanced against the obligation to protect the area for the benefit of future generations.”

The draft CMMP will be open for feedback on the Council’s Have Your Say page.