Despite an impassioned plea from two councillors about respecting traditional owners and rejecting horse training on Spookys Beach, Warrnambool's Racing Club was offered a glimmer of hope on Monday.
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Instead of making a decision on whether or not to allow the racing club to continue to work towards getting commercial horse training on Spookys Beach, it was decided that a special meeting of all stakeholders needed to be held first.
The alternative motion was put forward by Cr Sue Cassidy who called for the meeting in order to clarify inconsistent information that has been provided to council.
The motion was passed with a 4-2 vote, Crs Kylie Gaston and David Owen voting against.
The club had sought an extension after it failed to meet a crucial deadline on November 30.
Racing club chief executive officer Tom O'Connor said he was happy to participate in the special meeting.
The club was also successful in getting councillors to allow horses to return to Lady Bay beach on March 1, in line with previous years, rather than on April 1. Only Cr Owen voted against that motion.
Cr Cassidy said that while councillors had gone over the issue "so many times", there was a need to get everyone in the same room because there seems to be "different stories going around".
Cr Robert Anderson said councillors had been given mixed messages across the board, and it was a great idea to get the groups together and seek out a final answer.
Cr Gaston said positions were clear and delaying for new meetings "simply amounts to delay" and called for councillors to make a decision at Monday night's meeting.
She said the facts, information and tone of the debate had changed over the past 12 months.
Cr Gaston said that despite the loss of high-profile trainer Darren Weir, the racing club had continued to thrive, expand and invest in Warrnambool.
"For myself, 12 months on, I have far greater clarification on the strong position being articulated by our local traditional owners," she said.
She called for councillors to listen to the traditional owners before foreshadowing another motion that would effectively put an end to racehorses on Spookys Beach.
"Let's put this to rest and allow all parties to move on," she said.
Her comments, along with those of Cr Owen's, drew rapturous applause from the crowd of about 80 people who had gathered in the council chambers.
Cr Gaston also said she supported a move to seek funding for CCTV to keep curb illegal four-wheel-driving in the reserve.
Cr Owen said he would "not allow" racehorses on beaches and would never give his consent to commercial training of horses on beaches which described as "disrespectful".
"Most of the Eastern Marr people have told us they don't want it there, that's enough for me," he said.
He said there was no need for a meeting because the issue would just "drag on and get nowhere".
Cr Hulin said he was not prepared to rush the issue, and had been given poor information in the past.
Cr Herbert said it may end up with the result that many people in the crowd at the council meeting want, but he supported another meeting because of conflicting information he'd received from stakeholders.
A motion which called for a commitment of $400,000 from the racing club to help pay for a car park extension at Lady Bay to secure continued access for race horses was also passed.
Cr Gaston said there had been worries about safety at Lady Bay but she said it was an activity that had been happening there since the 1940s.
She said it was reasonable that the racing club is able to continue to access Lady Bay car park.
If the Department of Land Water and Planning knock back a request to extend the car park, Cr Gaston said she hoped the money could be used for better drainage for the washdown area.
Cr Hulin said the vegetation where the car parking could be made much better than what it is today.
"It's basically been used as a sand tip in the past and the vegetation there is full of vermin," he said.
His comment drew an angry response by some in the chamber with one calling out "what a load of crap".
Cr Hulin said that anybody that said wasn't vermin in that area was "living on another planet".
He said there was obviously some natives in there, but there was also vermin like foxes.
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