Unfortunately, tourist buses accessing and parking in the Split Point Lighthouse Precinct continue to pose safety and amenity issues despite AIDA raising concerns with the various authorities for over a year.
Smaller buses that exceed 6 metres are accessing the Steps Beach Car Park in increasing numbers where it is prohibited, while up to 30 buses a day (including large coaches) carrying up to 800 passengers are accessing and parking along Inlet Crescent where no bus parking is allowed.
AIDA wants a regenerative and sustainable tourist model for the Great Ocean Road, not the bus-based extractive model we now have. The buses, and their passengers, contribute nothing to the local economy while damaging local amenity, using local infrastructure (toilets and roads) and leaving litter such as cigarette butts and toilet
paper for the local volunteer group Rubbish Rangers to pick up.
In our June newsletter, we advised that following AIDA’s frequent and repeated representations to various agencies on this matter, no agency was willing to accept responsibility for fixing the problem. Surf Coast Shire arranged a roundtable meeting inviting relevant agencies to understand the problem and develop solutions to address them.
This roundtable meeting was held on 2 July. The meeting was chaired by Matt Taylor, the Manager of Economic Development Arts and Tourism for the Surf Coast Shire, with cross agency attendance including:
- Chairman and CEO GORCAPA – Libby Mears and Christine Ferguson
- CEO Surf Coast Shire – Robyn Seymour
- Deputy Mayor Surf Coast Shire – Libby Stapleton
- Otway Ward Councillor Surf Coast Shire – Leon Walker
- Liz Price General Manager Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism
- Executive Director of Maintenance – Michael Bailey – and Regional Director, Operations and Planning, Barwon South West and Grampians Department of Transport and Planning – Laura Jo Mellan
- Representatives from Victoria Police, Vic Parks Licensed Tour Operators Team and various departments across both the Surf Coast Shire and GORCAPA
Two representatives from AIDA, Ian Laging and Jeanette Butler, were grateful to be given the opportunity to outline in detail the serious safety and amenity issues caused by the increasing number of tourist buses accessing both Inlet Crescent and Steps Beach Car Park. The AIDA representatives were pleased that there was general acceptance by all in attendance that the current situation was untenable, but disappointed that no agency accepted responsibility for resolving the problem.
Following the meeting, various actions were discussed and distributed. These included enforcement blitzes by Surf Coast Shire traffic officers and Victoria Police in both Inlet Crescent and the Steps Beach area, and clarification of what road traffic regulations for tourist buses are enforceable on Inlet Crescent. AIDA’s review of these actions and
observations of the initial blitz along Inlet Crescent concluded that none offered a solution to the problem of buses accessing and parking there. AIDA has taken the position that the current traffic arrangement on Inlet Crescent was no longer enforceable or fit for purpose and the safety issues it is causing require immediate action.
AIDA believes that buses over 6 metres should be prohibited from accessing Inlet Crescent South from the Great Ocean Road at all times. AIDA has advised Surf Coast Shire of our position and has requested they make a formal application to the Department of Transport and Planning, and advocate strongly for implementation.
Signs prohibiting buses exceeding 6 metres accessing the Steps Beach Car Park continue to be unenforced.
AIDA President Ian Laging and Vice President Charlotte Allen have sought meetings with the CEO of Surf Coast Shire and the Otway Ward Councillors to discuss our position and explain how we have reached this conclusion regarding bus access to Inlet Crescent. They will also raise the issue of the failure of authorities to enforce the existing prohibition of buses accessing Steps Beach car park.
We will provide further updates on this matter in future newsletters.
Jeanette Butler