Locals sceptical, confused about DAL

Initial social media comments suggest local residents are confused or cynical about the Distinctive Area and Landscapes (DAL).

Most households in Bass Coast received a letter drop from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning explaining the DAL and the release this month of the draft Statement of Planning Policy (SPP) (see separate stories).

While the SPP will be enshrined in law, locking in town boundaries and protecting landscapes with beefed up overlays, some weren’t buying it.

Graznyna Mackiewicz commented DELWP was “going to develop and do whatever they want to do”. “They are required by legislation to “consult with their community” but there is nothing anywhere to require them to listen to anything the community objects to,” she said.

Mark Turner suggested Phillip Island was already overdeveloped.

Alby MacDonald said given the Bass Coast DAL can only be changed through a vote in both houses of State Parliament, “lucky Matthew Guy didn’t get his way in Ventnor”, referring to the controversial Cadogan development.

Paul Zennaro said the thousands of pages in the SPP were “impenetrable”. “The only reason you would use (that many) pages to say not much, is if you didn’t want people to read them. This is a hoodwink,” Paul wrote.

Ewton Alli agreed: “I read the documents because apparently it affects my address but I still have no idea what I've read”, to which Josie Riley said “same – got it in the mail yesterday and had no idea”.

Others were concerned about the projected need for 11,000 new homes in Bass Coast by 2036, arguing better infrastructure was needed, with Steve Couchy saying developers needed to finish projects and “not half finish them like Panorama Estate”.

Beverley Graf commented “developers just take the money and run with no accountability for the mess they leave behind”. “It's a similar scenario in an estate in Cowes where it has been left an eyesore for years, with no end in sight.”

John Peters summed it up: “The coastal area is getting an overlay. The proposed township boundary is remaining as it is today.”