21 Sep NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER
Talking Heads
Another wonderful edition of Talking Heads for Spring. Here is the link: click here.
Upcoming Events
Council Election Conversation
Wednesday the 25th of September
7:00pm at the Ocean Grove Bowling Club
Barwon Heads Association AGM and end of year celebration
Monday the 18th November
5:30pm at the Barwon Heads Bowls Club
Renew your membership
Thank you to our very loyal members, we have 200 for the past year. Please renew your membership and encourage your neighbours and friends to also join. We are looking for new ideas and members for the Committee – please share. Please click on the following link to our website or copy this link into your web browser and complete the membership form:
https://barwonheadsassociation.com/membership-2/
Make the payment using your online banking to the BHA Account:
Account Name: Barwon Heads Association
BSB: 633000
Account Number: 130256704
Local government elections – goodbye Bellarine, welcome Connewarre
Be prepared for Council elections in October. We will be in the single Councillor ward of Connewarre. A big thank you to our Bellarine Councillors. Trent Sullivan, Jim Mason and Elise Wilkinson – they have been great supports for Barwon Heads. Thank you especially to Jim who has advised he is not standing this time. He has been a very wise representative on Council. We wish Elise and Trent all the best in the forthcoming elections. Elise is standing for Connewarre.
Council will enter caretaker mode on the 17th of September and results of the election will be announced by the 15th of November.
You will be sent voting packs in the mail on or about the 10th of October. They should be returned by the 26th October.
Come to our forum on 25th September 7:00pm at the Ocean Grove Bowling Club. We hope this is in good time for you to make up your minds before the pack arrives.
Don’t get scammed
Our August meeting was a very important one for all of us. The topic was how to avoid being scammed.
To begin with download scamwatch: https://www.scamwatch.gov.au
Scams work because they look like the real thing and scammers contact you when you’re not expecting it, or busy trying to do many things at once.
Criminals take advantage of new technology, new products or services and major events. They use them to create believable stories that convince you to give them your money, financial or personal details.
Always stop and check before you act. Scammers rely on you not spotting these warning signs because you’re in a hurry, you don’t want to miss something that looks like a great deal, or because it seems like it’s from someone you trust.
Here are some common signs that something is a scam and how to stay protected.
STOP – don’t give money or personal details on any links. Say no, hang up and delete
CHECK – scammers pretend to be from organisations you know and trust like myGov, banks, the police, government departments. Hang up and call back on the official number to check.
REPORT – report any scams or situations you are unsure of to scam watch and the police..
If you missed it and are interested in other sessions please email Bellarine-Neighbourhood-MGR@police.vic.gov.au.
What do we get for our rates in Barwon Heads? Not much
In the last 10 years the City of Greater Geelong (COGG) has been the fastest growing region in Victoria and the second fastest in Australia
Homeowners have recently received their rate notices for the 2024/25 financial year, together with an explanatory brochure.
The brochure explains several interesting statistics:
- How the rates are spent – most notably 35.1% on capital works
- How rates are calculated – 0.00201164 x the residential value
- The COGG average residential value has fallen by 2.2% ( from the Valuer General Victoria)
- Various details including how you can receive rate relief if you are experiencing difficulty paying your rates, and the different rate rises which apply to residential, farm, vacant, mixed use, commercial and industrial rates ( called differential rates)
The brochure does not provide the following relevant details which can be found in the Budget papers:
- Rates income is forecast to rise on average by 2.75% (being the maximum permitted by the State Government)
- Residential rates rise by 4.5% – This is achieved by increasing the rate in the $ by 7.5 % while values fall by 2.2% to ensure that City income increases even when property values fall.
- The average residential rate in COGG was $1478 in 2023/24 rising to $1545 in 2024/25 (a 4.5% increase ). These rates are not high averages when compared with other councils.
Of interest to residential ratepayers in Barwon Heads are the following observations:
- Analysis of several sets of rates in Barwon Heads reveal that many rates have risen by about 36% in the last five years and much more in some cases.
- CoGG is planning to spend in excess of $200M in capital expenditure in 2024/25 and yet none of it is planned for Barwon Heads.
Average rates in Barwon Heads are nearly three times the average of COGG, which includes Norlane (which the ABC identified as being the most disadvantaged suburb in the State). Norlane and other disadvantaged suburbs have low property values. Hence the average rate for a large region like COGG (282,809 residents at June 2023) where there is a huge range of values, do not explain the range of experiences of ratepayers.
Should the ratepayers of Barwon Heads receive better treatment from COGG? And should we also be lobbying for a Bellarine Council so that the needs of our region can be met more fairly. (A long term goal).
We encourage your views on this matter as the BHA wishes to fairly represent the views of all ratepayers. What do we need long term to protect us from Climate change and population growth.
Over the past 3 years we have received the following:
- Arts Hub carpark lighting
- Bowling Club
- Thorn St new gutters
- Stephen Pde re surface
- Tennis Club works and lighting
- Scouts CHMP
- Community Garden new greenhouse grant
We know that short term we need:
- Road maintenance (especially verges in Henley, South Hitchcock, South Golf Links Rd).
- Updating of the public toilet facilities in Hitchcock Ave.
What else?
Wakeboard Cable Park – proposal for 1392-1450 Barwon Heads Road, Connewarre.
This is an application for the “Use and Development of an Outdoor Recreation Facility (Wake Boarding Cable Park) and Ancillary Use and Development of Accommodation (24 Rooms) and Restaurant”. We were extremely disappointed that Council officers recommended approval with 15 pages of conditions. However, we were advised 2 days before a scheduled hearing that the applicant had withdrawn the current application and will be submitting a new design relocated further south on the site.
Members of the committee have put in considerable time reviewing this application, assessing its potential impact on its adjoining environment and expressing our concerns about this site to the Council. We wait with interest the amended application. However, from what we have seen to date, there is little doubt that a tourism facility developed on this site will significantly contribute to the erosion of the green break between settlements that planning policy seeks to preserve.
In summary here is our brief submission for refusal (limited by Council rules of 3 minutes):
We request that the Planning Committee refuse this application. It is an inappropriate use, is incomplete and fails to protect the landscape and the environment.
This proposed development is located in a sensitive natural environment abutting a Ramsar listed wetland and in a Farming Zone the main purposes of which are to “provide for the use of the land for agriculture” and to “encourage retention of productive agricultural land”. The land is currently used productively by growing a ripening canola crop. This proposal fails to meet the primary objectives of the zone.
We are not reassured that the anticipated and likely impacts will be suitably controlled by way of the complex permit conditions and we are very concerned that there will be unacceptable impacts on the nearby Lake Connewarre and the beautiful landscape surrounding it. This development will significantly contribute to the erosion of the green break between settlements that policy seeks to preserve.
Planning strategy supports tourism uses associated with an agricultural activity but discourages such use when not so associated unless on a tourist route. This development is not associated with agricultural activity. The BHA submits that being located on a tourist route which is predicated on driving through farmland and environmentally sensitive areas and designated in 2015 before the growth that we are now experiencing; is the least compelling reason to support such a proposal.
The BHA does not oppose wakeboard parks where appropriately located but believes that this is not an appropriate location and the information submitted in support of the application is inadequate to enable its proper evaluation. In particular:
- All concerns raised to date by referral authorities are attempted to be resolved by conditions many of which rely on further reports by unknown consultants and which should be independently assessed;
- Location and construction specifications of all the waterbodies and the effluent disposal field have not been submitted or assessed;
- Uncertainty of the public health status of the water being stored in either a ‘private dam’ or an ‘aquatic facility’ and its appropriate treatment.
Other wakeboard facilities maintain water quality by discharging water into an adjacent river and do not rely on increasingly scarce town water supplies. Disposal or leakage of water into ground water or by surface flows from this site would directly impact the saline environment of the abutting Ramsar protected wetlands which may result in significant negative impacts on its ecology and biodiversity.
Watch this space.
Request a free tree
Remember that CoGG has a very active program for planting across the city.
Visit geelong.link/RequestATree1 to order yours.
Notice of BHA AGM 2023-2024
18 NOVEMBER 2024
5:30PM AT THE BARWON HEADS BOWLING CLUB
FOLLOWED BY CHRISTMAS DRINKS AND SNACKS
1. Welcome: Philip Bade (Chair)
2. Apologies:
3. Acceptance of Minutes: Moved that the Minutes of the AGM held on 17th October 2023 accepted.
4. Annual Reports:
- President – Moved that the Presidents report be accepted
- Treasurer – Moved that the Treasurers report be accepted
- Election of Office Bearers for the Committee for 2024-2025
- President
- Vice President
- Treasurer/Secretary and Public Officer (currently combined but can be separate)
Committee
6. Confirmation of membership fees for 2024-2025
- $30 Family
- $20 Individual
- $10 Concession
- $20 Local Business
- $5 Friend (non resident and ratepayer, but interested in being kept informed)* non voting.