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Coastal Urban Design Framework consultation gets underway this month

Wellington Shire Council is about to commence public consultation on its Coastal Urban Design Framework (UDF), which will provide strategic planning guidance for the future development of selected coastal townships.

By Wellington Shire Council - 10th January 2005 - Back to News

The townships involved are: Loch Sport; Golden Beach and Paradise Beach; Seaspray; The Honeysuckles; Woodside Beach; McLoughlin’s Beach; Mann’s Beach; and Robertson’s Beach.

The project forms part of a joint initiative between Wellington and neighbouring East Gippsland Shire Council, with consulting firm Meinhardt Infrastructure and Environment commissioned to formulate strategic planning guidelines for a number of coastal townships in each municipality. These UDFs will address existing and future development issues and will be submitted to both councils for consideration and implementation.

The consultants are working with a project steering group comprising representatives from the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Wellington and east Gippsland councils and the Gippsland Coastal Board.

To kick-off the consultation process public meetings, which will also include workshops, are being held in Wellington later this month. Newsletters are being sent to some 4,800 landholders and absentee landholders providing details of the meetings, which are also open to anyone else with an interest in the future of these townships. The dates and locations are:

Said Wellington’s acting Chief Executive Officer Ralf Kastan: "We would encourage as many people as possible with an interest in the future of the coastal townships covered by this consultation to attend the coming meetings.

"Victoria’s coast has long been a focus for high levels of development interest and this has intensified in recent years.

"The natural beauty, ecological diversity and unique character of this area are also highly valued. If these qualities are to be retained in the future, measures to manage and guide development and protect sensitive areas need to be in place.

"In addition local communities are experiencing change as coastal towns become increasingly popular for retirement as well as recreation and tourism.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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