The clock is ticking for more than 50 Warrnambool and district horse trainers who exercise their gallopers on beaches.
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Warrnambool’s Lady Bay and Killarney beaches will be horse-free from December 1. Horses were this week banned from Levys Point because of damage to Aboriginal cultural heritage, leaving authorities racing for a solution.
Warrnambool City Council has announced restrictions on horses on Lady Bay beach in an attempt to strike a balance with other users and environmental considerations. Part of the balance is that horses are banned from the beach between December and February – peak tourist season.
Neighbouring Moyne Shire council is working on a plan that will see horses banned from Killarney from December 1 over safety concerns. Last summer, after Warrnambool’s summer policy kicked in, trainers flooded Killarney with horses creating safety, traffic and environmental issues.
History won’t be repeated. The council intends to close Killarney to horses year-round and open up a section further west between Port Fairy Golf Club and the eastern end of East Beach for horse training. But its plan involves strict conditions.
Port Fairy-based MP James Purcell (pictured), whose son Aaron is a horse trainer, described the plan as “stupid” in parliament this week and suggested the racing industry needed to provide better facilities at tracks.
Belfast Reserve Coastal Action Group said it was a “dead duck” on environmental legal grounds. The group, which backed the Levys Point ban, now wants horse training barred along the district’s coast.
The situation is unlikely to be resolved quickly. It is a complex issue. Warrnambool Racing Club says horse trainers will leave the district if their point of difference – the beach – is out of play. That would have economic consequences to an industry worth $100 million.
A balance needs to be found. Indigenous cultural heritage and the environment needs to be protected for future generations and the beach experience for walkers, anglers and the like, has to be preserved.
The balance must include the industry taking ownership by providing better training facilities such as a sand track at the racecourse. But time is of the essence. Upgrades don’t happen overnight. A phased shift away from popular beaches to a more isolated area needs to be devised along with a development plan at the racecourse.
