Cape Paterson locals push for town’s borders to be reduced

Residents of a small town in the state’s southeast are fighting to save their town from overdevelopment, pushing instead for town boundaries to be reduced.

Cape Paterson community members are fighting against expansion of the seaside town.

A small town in Victoria’s southeast has taken a drastic step to try to stop new development, arguing for its borders to be reduced.

Residents of Cape Paterson, near Wonthaggi, have been battling for a reduction in town boundaries since 2011 when the government changed zoning laws to allow for more development.

Now, as a plan to lock town borders in multiple localities around the Bass Coast reaches its final stages, Cape Paterson residents have doubled down on the push to stop the town’s growth.

The Cape Paterson Residents and Ratepayers Association (CPRRA) spokesman John Coulter said the community had faced the “threat of developers” determining their future for years.

“At every point in the process — every community engagement, survey and submission process — (the CPRRA) has voiced concerns in overwhelming numbers,” he said.

Save Cape Paterson from Over Development group spokeswoman Cheryl Padgett said residents were “fighting against the power of developers to protect this rare land”.

“Cape Paterson overwhelmingly expressed concern about the impacts of further development to the north – the environmental impacts, traffic, the impact on the fragile coast and infrastructure, adverse impacts on the village character, threats to the marine park and more,” she said.

Proposed Cape Paterson protected settlement boundary.

The groups hope they will have their voices heard by a panel set to determine the boundaries of Bass Coast towns, however the panel only intends to be in Cape Paterson for 10 minutes.

Ms Padgett said 10 minutes was not a sufficient amount of time for the committee to “realistically view the context of the community’s opposition”.

“It is equivalent to a toilet break,” she said.

“You don’t get a sense of the town and what we are trying to protect when you just spend 10 minutes standing and looking into farmland.”

The Victorian environment, land, water and planning department was contacted for comment but didn’t respond by deadline.