REPORT Image source - Visit Victoria: Kilcunda Trestle Railway Bridge Bass Coast – Distinctive Areas and Landscapes Community Engagement Key Findings Report Final Report: Stage One 22 October 2019 © Capire Consulting Group Pty Ltd. This document belongs to and will remain the property of Capire Consulting Group Pty Ltd. All content is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in any form without express written consent of Capire Consulting Group Pty Ltd. Authorisation can be obtained via email to [email protected] or in writing to: 96 Pelham Street Carlton VIC Australia 3053. Privacy Capire Consulting Group and any person(s) acting on our behalf is committed to protecting privacy and personally identifiable information by meeting our responsibilities under the Victorian Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles 2014 as well as relevant industry codes of ethics and conduct. 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BASS COAST – DISTINCTIVE AREAS AND LANDSCAPES, FINAL REPORT, 2019 Executive summary 3 1 Introduction 7 1.1 Project background 7 1.2 Purpose of this report 9 2 Engagement approach 10 2.1 Objectives 10 2.2 Engagement activities 11 2.3 Engagement limitations 13 3 Participation 15 3.1 Face-to-face 16 3.2 Online 17 4 Engagement findings 18 4.1 Natural environments 19 Values 19 Threats 21 Protection 22 4.2 Landscapes and scenic views 25 Values 25 Threats 26 Protection 27 4.3 Cultural and heritage 29 Values 29 Threats 30 Protection 32 4.4 Townships 33 Values 33 Threats 34 Protection 35 4.5 Economic areas 36 Values 36 Threats 37 Protection 38 4.6 Future aspirations for the Bass Coast 40 40 40 41 41 1 WWW.CAPIRE.COM.AU BASS COAST – DISTINCTIVE AREAS AND LANDSCAPES, FINAL REPORT 2019 41 4.7 Location specific findings 43 4.8 Extended responses 51 5 Next steps 54 6 Engagement evaluation 55 Engagement promotion 56 Session attendance 56 Further comments 57 2 BASS COAST – DISTINCTIVE AREAS AND LANDSCAPES, FINAL REPORT, 2019 Executive summary The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) is working in collaboration with the Bass Coast Shire Council and the Bunurong Land Council, to declare the Bass Coast as a Distinctive Area and Landscape (DAL) under the Planning and Environment Act 1987. The Bass Coast includes a number of state and national significant areas including Phillip Island and the Bunurong Coastal Park and attracts a large number of visitors who come to enjoy its beauty, nature and surrounds. The Shire is also experiencing significant development pressures and there is strong community sentiment that township growth should be managed. Following a declaration, a Statement of Planning Policy will be developed to better protect the Bass Coast area’s unique landscapes, environment, and lifestyle. This report presents a summary of the key findings from the first phase of engagement for the Bass Coast DAL. The engagement started on 10 July 2019 and finished on 12 August 2019. The engagement process sought to reach a broad range of residents and stakeholders from across the Bass Coast, to communicate that DELWP was beginning the process for the Bass Coast DAL declaration. The engagement sought feedback from the community on what was most valued about the Bass Coast, and their vision for the future of the area. The process was designed and delivered by Capire Consulting Group (Capire) and supported by DELWP. The purpose of engagement was to input into Stage One of the project, including informing the declaration of Bass Coast as a DAL, and to shape a 50 year vision for the region. Additional consultation will be undertaken in Stage Two and Stage Three of the project and will provide guidance for the Statement of Planning Policy. During the engagement, approximately 2,118 people were reached by the project either online or through participation in face-to-face engagement activities. The participants were asked to consider what they valued most about the Bass Coast, the threats to these values, and how these values can be protected. Participants were asked to explore five key themes: natural environments, landscapes and scenic views, culture and heritage, townships and settlements, and areas of economic prosperity. All online and face-to- face engagement feedback was consolidated, and comments were analysed into themes. 3 WWW.CAPIRE.COM.AU BASS COAST – DISTINCTIVE AREAS AND LANDSCAPES, FINAL REPORT 2019 Values Across the five themes, the most frequently identified values were: Natural landscapes: beaches, Beaches: coastal walks, cliff Aboriginal heritage and history: rock platforms, formations e.g. faces and coastline, rocky culturally significant sacred sites Eagle’s Nest, connection to cliff foreshore, sand dunes, rock to the Bunurong people, middens faces, views of beaches ledges with rock pools and artefacts, burial sites and connecting farmlands, rural scar trees landscapes and rolling hills Township character: small size, Tourism: keeping young relaxed and village feel, easy people in the townships and access to open space, amenity having environmentally and facilities considered, sustainable and appropriate tourism Threats Across the five themes, when participants were asked to identify the threats to what they value, they most frequently noted: Overdevelopment: Buildings as a ‘visual intrusion’ Development threatening sites of inappropriate housing on landscape, large scale, high- Aboriginal, European historical value, subdivisions, small blocks of rise residential, resorts, leading to demolition of historic land. New developments developments for visitors, close buildings, destruction of sacred sites. approved effecting to the foreshore creating loss of Site clearing increases exposure/ overcrowding of natural space vegetation and biodiversity erosion of sacred sites The removal of trees, extending Inadequate infrastructure for housing outside existing town growth in tourism & permanent boundaries, and loss of character residents and identity 4 BASS COAST – DISTINCTIVE AREAS AND LANDSCAPES, FINAL REPORT, 2019 Protection Across the five themes, when participants were asked how their values should be protected, they most frequently noted: Protecting habitats: planting more Planning mechanisms: native vegetation, undertaking Increased education, for tourists maintaining zoning, having urgent remedial work to impede and locals, to protect cultural and strict settlement boundaries to coastal erosion, protecting heritage sites, more research of protect valued farmland, green foreshore, wetlands, forest from significant sites, more information wedges and valued views disruption due to development to the public, and education of and over visitation history in schools Planning mechanisms: better Protecting agricultural, farming planning and heritage controls, land: rural zone controls, definition of specific township housing developments only in character, retaining existing designated growth areas, township boundaries and height keeping townships restrictions ‘country feel’, small scale, sensitive Visioning Participants were asked to envision what they want the Bass Coast lifestyle to be like in 2070. Overall, responses to the visioning question were reflective of the identified key areas of value. Key themes included: 5 WWW.CAPIRE.COM.AU BASS COAST – DISTINCTIVE AREAS AND LANDSCAPES, FINAL REPORT 2019 Natural environment: vegetation, Farmland and food production, the Townships maintaining strong connection wildlife, and marine environment and countryside, or rural landscapes to the coastline, bushland and rural life landscapes Economic sustainability, keeping the Community: friendliness of communities area exactly as it is now,