RACV’s water shock

Alex de Vos
Surf Coast councillors have rejected an RACV bid for stormwater to underpin redevelopment of Torquay Golf Club.
Councillors voted on Wednesday night to instead put the RACV’s application to tap council drainpipes out for public comment and information sessions over the next six weeks.
The decision has thrown into doubt the future of the motoring giant’s proposed $90 million redevelopment of the course.
Councillors said they based their decision on concerns for Jan Juc Creek, which receives the stormwater as run-off.
Cr Simon Northeast, a Greens party member, said he was “not comfortable” with the RACV application.
“I need more information before I can support (the application).”
Cr Brian McKiterick said a golf course would be “great” but so would a “healthy water system”.
“We need to get the residents and the stakeholders involved to find out the impact on the creek,” he said.
Furious RACV representatives left Wednesday night’s meeting refusing to comment.
But in a media statement before the council vote, RACV executive Sue Blake said council’s approval was the redevelopment’s last hurdle, with work able to start “immediately”.
Ms Blake said council officers had recommended that tapping excess stormwater could actually benefit the creek “with appropriate management”.
The benefits from removing “high stormwater flows that degrade the creek environment further” would be long-term, she said.
Ms Blake pointed out that the officers had based their report to council on advice from Department of Sustainability and Environment as well as the region’s waterways and catchment management bodies.
Ms Blake said the club’s 1200 members were eager to see the approval issue “resolved”.
The RACV assumed ownership of the course from Torquay Golf Club in 2007 after a bitter battle with dissenting members. Two-thirds of members eventually voted in favour of the takeover offer, which included rights to continue operating their club on the course.