Mornington Peninsula camping: Fence needed to keep beachgoers away
A pricey plan to allow Christmas camping at Rosebud, Rye and Sorrento has been revealed as other foreshore sites in the region push ahead with a December launch.
South East
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Foreshore camping could open sooner on the Mornington Peninsula if the State Government helped pay for a fence to separate campers from beachgoers.
Mornington Peninsula Shire chief executive John Baker said one of the biggest risks to opening the campsites was the “intermingling” of campers with members of the public using the beaches.
“It’s a pretty unique space … we have people coming up off our beaches into the campsites which makes social distancing and contact tracing incredibly difficult.
“If we could separate the campgrounds from the public it would help reduce some of those risks.”
Mr Baker would not reveal how much it would cost the council to erect a fence and introduce “half hourly cleans” of shared toilets and showers.
“I’m not going to put a figure on it, but it would be a significant expense.”
The council manages 13km of foreshore campgrounds including 812 sites at Rosebud, 174 at Rye and 147 at Sorrento.
The shire announced on Thursday that campgrounds at Rosebud, Rye and Sorrento would not reopen until February 2021.
The council-managed sites were expected to open December 19.
The move devastated traders from Rosebud to Rye who said without a good summer many would not survive winter 2021.
“The decision was made based on risk assessment,” Mr Baker said.
On Monday Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio urged the council to “keep talking to the Chief Health Officer” and continue to review its decision as changes to restrictions were rolled out.
She was hopeful the council would find a way to open foreshore camping “in some capacity” this year.
A Department of Environment Land Water and Planning spokesman said the department was working with all councils to manage public land and waterways over the coming summer “in a consistent and co-ordinated way”.
Despite the shire’s concerns over its ability to safely open foreshore campgrounds, other sites nearby planned to offer camping in 2020.
Capel Sound Foreshore campground, which is next to the Rosebud site managed by the council, confirmed it still hoped to launch its season in December 19.
The committee operated in line with the DELWP regulations and guidelines, Capel Sound Foreshore officer Christine Hunter-Francis said.
“At present, there has been no further direction from DELWP, DHHS, or, any Victorian Government department regarding camping in Metropolitan Melbourne,” she said.
“The potential reopening date of 19th December remains in place until further advice is received.”
Point Leo campground – which is also managed by a separate foreshore committee – has confirmed it will reopen with restricted numbers on December 19.
A statement on the committee website said the “council understands and support our decision for opening up”.
“Due to COVID-19, we are operating at a reduced capacity,” the website states.
“We appreciate that this may be frustrating for our customers to see empty campsites over the busy periods.
“We are taking this unprecedented step at considerable cost to try to keep our customers, our staff and the broader public safe.”
According to the website all available site were booked until January 30 and there was no waiting list.
Websites for Balnarring Beach Foreshore Reserve and Whitecliffs to Camerons Bight also listed December 19 launch dates for camping.
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