Coasts and Marine

Coastal Spaces Initiative

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Coastal Spaces Recommendations Report Released

Coastal Spaces Recommendations Report (PDF - 1.4 Mb) Coastal Spaces Recommendations Report Media Release 17 April 2006 (PDF - 46 Kb)

Australians have an ongoing love affair with the coast. Approximately 70 million visits to Victoria’s coast occur each year.

Nationally coastal regions have been experiencing growth and pressure for development. The causes of this varies, but in Victoria it generally reflects an overall increases in population through migration and changes in demography, and a general trend to retire to coastal centres.

As a result of these trends and many others, many coastal settlements beyond metropolitan Melbourne have and are continuing to experience unprecedented levels of development activity and change.

The Minister for Planning and the Minister for Environment released the Coastal Spaces Recommendations Report on 17 April 2006. The Recommendations Report responds to the emerging issues identified in the Inception Report released in May 2005. It outlines a series of recommendations and associated actions designed to achieve improved outcomes for coastal Victoria.

Under the Coastal Spaces Recommendations Report, the Government announced it would provide:

• Up to $1 million from the Moving Forward in Provincial Victoria to support non metropolitan coastal councils plan for and manage change through strategic planning for settlements.
• $600,000 to work with local councils to progress implementation of the Coastal Spaces Landscape Assessment and Great Ocean Road Region Landscape Assessment studies.
• $325,000 of Commonwealth Natural Heritage Trust funding for the development of policy and guidelines for addressing Coastal Acid Sulfate Soils.
• $100,000 to work with Wellington Shire to address old and inappropriate subdivisions on Gippsland’s coast.
• Continuing investment in innovative solutions to address environmental hotspots through the town and country water supply program.