Community
30 April, 2025
Port petition addressed by council
CORANGAMITE Shire Council will continue ahead with its plans on the contentious decking at Port Campbell after receiving a petition reaching more than 1400 signatures.
A petition was lodged with Corangamite Shire Council to remove all of the wooden balustrade panelling on the recently constructed decks beneath the Norfolk Island Pines on Lord Street south in Port Campbell.
Despite receiving the petition at last week’s Ordinary Meeting of Council, council will continue to complete the revised deck balustrade plans which include a mix of timber and tensioned wire.
The petition, which had been launched by Port Campbell’s Peter Younis as part of the Open Forum item at the previous council meeting in March, collected 1412 signatures and called on Corangamite Shire Council to “remove all of the wooden balustrade panelling and replace it with a balustrade that does not impede views of the bay, pier, cliffs, beach and headlands, from all vantage points”.
The report before council noted there had been some revisions to the decking based on community feedback received earlier this year.
“Some revisions were made to the deck balustrades,” director sustainable development Justine Linley said in the report.
“Sections of the timber have been replaced with wire.
“Approximately one-third of the bay-facing side of the largest deck in each deck group will have a balustrade of tensioned wire.
“This is the maximum amount of replacement that retains the structural engineering integrity of the deck balustrades and meets regulatory and building approvals.”
All seven deck platforms have been constructed.
The final balustrade treatment, with minor modifications, including the lowering by two boards of the cladding on deck one and replacement of timber cladding with stainless steel tensioned wire on the bay-side of deck one, has been completed.
The first three decks were made available for public use on March 22.
The foundations, structural elements, platforms and tie-ins between the concrete footpath and the remaining four decks were completed by March 31.
Cladding of the balustrade and under-storey of the remaining four decks will be completed during April.
The report before council recommended council note the petition and continue to complete the revised deck balustrade.
The officer’s recommendation was moved by councillor Jamie Vogels.
“We’ll note the petition requesting council remove the wooden balustrade panelling,” he said.
“We’ll continue the revised deck balustrades inclusive of the mix of timber and tension wire in accordance with (the contract) and our funding agreements with the Commonwealth and State Governments.”
The motion was seconded by Cr Laurie Hickey.
The report noted 1049 of the 1412 signatures had been collected from an online petition on change.org, with only 137 signatures having come from individuals who nominated their place of residence as Port Campbell or Newfield.
Cr Vogels urged anyone signing a petition to list their town of residence to ensure local communities can be well represented.
“I have been asked to note that in the online petition, if people did not put down their address it reverted to a generic Melbourne address,” he said.
“It might say on the petition that there are people from Melbourne who actually aren’t – they might be local.”
Cr Hickey did not speak to the motion, which was passed unanimously.
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