THE state government has rejected claims it kept secret its deal to approve commercial racehorse training on two beaches in the Belfast Coastal Reserve.
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Warrnambool Racing Club (WRC) was given permission by the state government to issue the licences from June 15 officially allowing training at Golfies and the Cutting, but no formal announcement was made on the matter.
State environment minister Lily D’Ambrosio said “claims that a licensing system was implemented in secret are just plain wrong”.
“The department has been openly consulting with all stakeholders, including BCRAG, for many, many months and there has been extensive media coverage,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.
The Standard discovered on Thursday that an email was sent to the Belfast Coastal Reserve Action Group (BCRAG) on June 30 – two weeks after the system was introduced – confirming WRC had been granted a licence to allow commercial horse training in the reserve.
BCRAG’s Bill Yates claimed on Wednesday he did not receive any correspondence notifying them of the introduction of the licensing system, but subsequently discovered the email on Thursday.
The email was sent to Mr Yates after he wrote to a state government representative seeking clarification on rumours that beach training licences had been introduced.
The email confirmed they had been introduced, but told Mr Yates he would have to submit a Freedom Of Information request for the specifics.