WARRNAMBOOL Racing Club is committed to seeing horses return to Levys Point beach and will invest $500,000 for this to happen.
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Chief executive officer Peter Downs confirmed the club would hand over the money for the car park at Lady Bay and wash down facility to ensure trainers had another training option.
The confirmation comes after Mr Downs previously expressed concerns about the financial investment the council had asked the club to make.
On Monday, Mr Downs would not be drawn on this issue, simply confirming the investment would be made by the club.
The revelation comes as a concerned resident has once again questioned the presence of horses at Lady Bay.
Monique Ferrier said she was concerned about the safety of visitors and locals on the beach.
She said she had witnessed a number of breaches to the rules, including horses training in groups, horses being too close to beach goers and horses cantering near the sand dunes.
Ms Ferrier said she had reported these issues to the council, but did not think the process of relying on reports from the public was effective.
"There are small children and families that potentially could be injured by race horses that are running along the beach," she said.
Ms Ferrier said she believed the Warrnambool City Council should have an officer monitoring the horses on beaches at all times.
"I think Warrnambool City Council should be monitoring what's going on there given the implications of the decision to allow racehorses on the beach," she said.
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Ms Ferrier said she was very concerned about horses on any public beach.
"Regardless of how many years that the very small number of novice local horse trainers were allowed to use the beach for training activities, times have changed and horse numbers have ballooned," she said.
Warrnambool City Council's infrastructure director Scott Cavanagh said it was the racing club's responsibility to ensure compliance.
He said the racing club had a compliance officer on the beach every morning and council staff also conducted regular monitoring. "Council investigates reported and evident breaches," Mr Cavanagh said.
"This often involves seeking a response from the club or trainer to find out if there were any mitigating circumstances. Council is committed to working with trainers and the WRC to ensure that the strict rules are adhered to. Depending on the breach, penalties range from warnings to monetary fines, suspensions or limits to a trainer's permit or if a serious case were to emerge, a total ban for those involved."
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