Stairs to the popular swimming beach have been closed since they were damaged in June last year during a storm.

Parks Victoria’s area chief ranger Michael Smith told The Standard in September works would begin in October to rebuild the majority of the steps at the spot west of Peterborough, with the aim to have them open in time for summer.

Moyne Shire mayor Colin Ryan said work was yet to start on the steps, which he claimed required minimal repairs and shouldn’t have taken 18 months.

Cr Ryan said he and Moyne chief executive David Madden had contacted Parks Victoria and the responsible minister numerous times over the past 12 months asking for the steps to be repaired, with minimal responses.

“The Bay of Martyrs is an iconic location on the Shipwreck Coast,” Cr Ryan said.

“People have been travelling from around the world to get to that location, and they get there and find it’s closed because the steps haven’t been repaired.

“If you go to the Eiffel Tower and there’s a sign saying it’s closed because the steps are broken, you’d think ‘why don’t they fix them?’. 

“Summer is about to start in five or six days and they’re still (closed). It’s not good enough. Parks Victoria need to fix it and they need to fix it now, and if they can’t do the job they’re supposed to do they should step aside and let someone else do it. It’s an indictment on the state of Victoria that something so simple can’t be done.”

Mr Smith said Parks Victoria aimed to replace most of the steps before Christmas.

“We are ready to go – the only thing stopping us getting the project completed by Christmas will be unfavourable weather,” Mr Smith said.

“We are building a safe, sustainable structure based on the best available advice, design and testing. We understand there has been disappointment regarding the length of time the project has taken (but) we want to ensure we get it right.

“We could have built something quickly which might have been washed away in the first or second storm but we need to build a safe, sustainable infrastructure based on evidence and good advice.

”This project may appear simple, but lots of planning and testing goes into something like this. We met with contractors last Monday. The works are ready to begin. We are all waiting for suitable weather conditions.”