Lack of consultation
According to the YRMBA, this project has been under development since 2006, however most of we residents were not aware of the enormity of the project until May 2018 when articles appeared in the press. As by this time the ‘consultation’ phase was over, the funding had been applied for and the master plan for first stage complete, we were told that it was too late to stop or scale the project down.
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Risk Management
Our emergency services were not brought in on the planning for the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination until after the Masterplan and after the application for funding were in. The Risk Assessment documentation supplied to secure funding for the project didn’t address the issues of accidents, injuries or bush fire risk at all.
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Traffic & Parking
Warburton lies in a narrow valley between steep mountains, it’s western end (Melbourne side) is blocked by Mt. Little Joe and the Warburton Highway at this point becomes very narrow. Our streets are narrow and our parking is woefully inadequate to deal with the tourists we have already.
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Old Warburton
Old Warburton is the site that will be the worst impacted by the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination. Bike trails will be converging right on Old Warburton, going within 5 metres of some residents windows and finishing up in a flat area on the side of the main road, used for parking. This area has residents gates within it. The residents have already had problems of cars parking over their gateways making it impossible for them to leave or return to their homes. Cars shuttling up to the top of Mt. Tugwell for the mountain bikers is already a real problem for residents. Old Warburton is also the original settlement and has many sites of archaeological interest in and around it where the bike trails are planned.
https://www.oldwarburton.com/
Heritage
Our area has many sites of heritage significance from old gold-mining works, old logging infrastructure, old townships, sites of aboriginal significance and significant landscapes. The mountain bike trails will go through and disrupt many of these areas.
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Health & Wellbeing
The Parks Victoria Program that this project has been developed under is called ‘Healthy Parks, Healthy People’ and many health and wellbeing claims are being made about the Mountain Bike Destination. However, not all these projected benefits stack up.
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Social Impact
There are also many claims about how this project will create good outcomes for out residents socially. We beg to differ.
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Environment
Leadbeater’s Possum is on the endangered species list and their is a lot of concern about this our state faunal emblem. There are colonies of Leadbeater’s Possum in the general area of the mountain bike trails and many more areas that are Leadbeater’s Possum habitat where not enough study has been made to ascertain if they are inhabiting these spaces. The Leadbeater’s Possum requires contiguous vegetation to survive. Contiguous canopy is not enough as it does not move around the canopy. A mountain bike trail would present a problem for this little creature in its movements. There are other creatures that will be disrupted by the Mountain Bike Trails too and we wonder what will happen to the Lyrebirds whose songs are heard throughout the proposed Mountain Bike Destination area.
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Rethink Warburton Mountain Bike Destination 