Calls for a multi-million dollar tourism trail to retain tourists along the Great Ocean Road are getting louder.
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Corangamite Shire told state MPs it was "urgent" upper tiers of government spent $29 million on a north-south loop that would link the Great Ocean Road and Princes Highway.
Mayor Cr Neil Trotter said more than half of the 2.6 million visitors to the Twelve Apostles region every year left on the same day.
He said the money being injected into the Shipwreck Coast Master Plan did little to help people stay and spend in the region.
"That money is mainly to deal with the influx of tourists, we get very little benefit out of it actually," he said.
"They're just visiting the Apostles and heading back to Melbourne.
"The government keeps saying that we want to value-add to tourism, we see this as a prime way of doing that."
The council is still awaiting a $4.5 million commitment from the government for the Twelve Apostles Trail.
The proposed project, expected to cost $6.1 million in total, is a 38 kilometre shared cycling and walking path that will travel from Timboon to Port Campbell (section one) and Port Campbell to Princetown via the Twelve Apostles (section two).
Section two is expected to be funded by the Shipwreck Coast Master Plan.
"We've been having trouble getting the funding for the trail, we've committed $1.6 million in this years' budget but it all depends on the commitment of the state and federal government," Cr Trotter said.
"Really this is a local initiative to improve stay-overs for tourism. It would be a huge economic benefit.
"We need to value-add to our tourist production and advance our boutique industry, and this Twelve Apostles artisan trail will be the way to do this."
Cr Trotter said a number of other issues were discussed during the Melbourne visit, including recycling, the $6.6 million funding needed for the $10 million Port Campbell town centre upgrade, and the $11.1 million needed to upgrade the region's dairy supply chain infrastructure.
He said the annual visit was about ensuring regional issues got the attention they deserved.
"We will just keep knocking on doors and meeting the decision-makers on Spring Street," he said.
"We have to make sure they don't forget about us."
Getting ahead of looming recycling crisis
The state's recycling crisis was high on the agenda when councillors met with Minister for Energy Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D'Ambrosio.
Corangamite Shire operates its own landfill and has a contract with Visy Recycling.
"Our role as an operator of landfill is to make sure rubbish and recycling matter is not being transported long distances," Cr Trotter said.
"We also have concerns around e-waste, we've built shedding for it but there's not really a market for it at the present.
"There's a potential for our facilities to fill up with e-waste that we can't put into landfill.
"If it can't go to landfill it's just going to stockpile."
Each year 37,000 tonnes of waste is sent to Corangamite Shire's landfill from a number of councils including Warrnambool, Colac-Otway and Moyne.
Cr Trotter said the site had a 70 year lifespan.
"It's still a very expensive process, each cell costs over $1 million to construct. That's why a lot of councils have opted out of operating the sites because of increasing regulation costs," he said.
"I think in the past the state government was quite prepared to make waste the responsibility of councils, I think there's a realisation that we need a joint commitment from all levels of government when it comes to the recycling and waste industry.
"We need to make sure we can attract contracts and ensure sustainability in the long-run."
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