Cr Richard Ziegeler said the area of land behind the skate park was riddled with vermin and weeds - the foxes that live there a threat to the Middle Island penguin colony which has been decimated over the years.

Cr Ziegeler first raised the idea of cleaning up the area about five years ago, and said he was "still keen" to get it going.

"My pet project for that would be the beach training track for the racehorses and it gets them off our beach," he said.

"It makes use of a completely wasted area that generates vermin and weeds.

"But it certainly is a source of foxes. It's also where, amazingly, more than one homeless person lives. There are camps right through there.

"There are rats and rabbits and it's all opportunistic growth."

Cr Ziegeler said it was time something was done with the area, and it was an issue he was raising as a citizen and not in his role as deputy mayor or city councillor.

He said he had yet to raise the issue with his fellow councillors.

Cr Ziegeler said he would be pushing the idea and was keen to start dialogue with the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning.

"That's certainly on my agenda. I'd like to push it. It's a personal project. I haven't yet put it to everyone else properly yet," he said.

"That's a project for the longer term and hopefully I want to get some attention paid to that through DELWP."

He said the site, and its vermin, may not be the sole contributor to the small number of penguins on the island - which is now down to just seven - but it was a factor.

"I think it would actually help with the penguins and Maremma project quite a bit," Cr Ziegeler said.

He said horse trainers had also backed his idea of turning the area into a sand track to train race horses.

"If you were able to put a sand track in there for gallops, you could have one track cut through the dunes so that the horses could cross the beach to swim in the ocean and then back in the sand area, no problem," he said.

"It's just logical that we can use that."

Historical photos show the land in question had built up over time, and had become overgrown.

"It was never there before, now it's all just opportunistic growth. It's kikuyu grass, it's coastal wattle which are noxious weeds out there," he said.

"I think it is a worthwhile project.

"It solves two problems."

He said even if the horse training idea didn't get up, the area needed some attention.

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