Politics is a dirty word

  The views of Grantville residents and regional sand extraction operators were detailed to Bass Coast councillors and senior shire officers at a meeting today, just two days after a Directions Hearing on Bass Coast councillors’ refusal to allow clearing to facilitate the sealing of Stanley Road . All sand extraction in the region must comply with the Regional Sand Extraction Strategy Lang Lang to Grantville, gazetted by the Victorian Government in 1995. The strategy requires community and Council participation in an Environmental Review Committee, The committee was supposed to be funded by the State government but since 2019 the Grantville Quarries Reference Group has been self-managed, with an Independent Chair and administrative assistant, fully funded by the participating quarry operators. Anne Westwood lives in Stanley Road, Grantville and is a community representative on the reference group. She was the convenor and principal researcher for Grantville Action Group w...

  Comments by Ken Henry, Chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, about Australia's environmental protection laws failing to stop the degradation of our natural environment really hit home. Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, he argued that the failure held back economic growth. The need for a better approach to planning and environmental issues has been apparent for some time. The community in Bass Coast Shire recognised this in the early 1990’s when plans were revealed for major sand extraction operations in the district. The community was adamant that a landscape-scale approach to planning should be introduced to limit cumulative impacts rather than the existing policy which only allowed each planning application to be considered in isolation. Residents formed the Grantville Action Group and gathered data to demonstrate the need for a massive change in planning and enviromental regulations. The Minister for Planning agreed and a working group was...