Candidate calls for bay ‘audit, body’

By Noel Murphy
CLEANING up Corio Bay and its foreshore must be a high priority for Geelong’s next council, according to mayoral hopeful Bernadette Uzelac.
She said turning a blind eye to derelict, unsafe and unsightly buildings and vacant properties along the foreshore would not make them go away.
Ms Uzelac called for a foreshore audit and recognition of the economic and environmental benefits of rehabilitation of the bayfront.
“Who owns these properties? Who is talking to the owners?” she said
“What opportunities and incentives are there to encourage investors to explore alternative uses for these buildings or to redevelop these neglected sites?’’
Ms Uzelac called for a new body to oversee the bayfront’s rehabilitation and protection.
A City Hall and Central Coastal Board action plan drafted in 2010 called for a volunteer group to manage litter, weeds and pests and to revegetate the foreshore.
But the plan needed “a new level of accountability and action’’, Ms Uzelac said.
“Let’s get on with this … are we ignoring an obvious economic driver in our environmental assets?
“What’s stopping us from taking control and fixing our own front yard?’’