Road closure off council agenda

ANGLESEA’S long- closed Coalmine Rd will not be discussed until more information on the planned use of the Alcoa mine site is available, Surf Coast Shire Council has decided.

The road has been closed for 10 years due to its proximity to the now decommissioned Alcoa power plant and mine. It also links to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planningmanaged Messmate Track, which is also closed. The road is set to be rebuilt to a new alignment as part of rehabilitation works at the site.

The council has endorsed a consultation plan on the road’s future but has decided to delay opening it for comment until more is known about the decommissioned Alcoa site.

Anglesea ward councillor Margot Smith said it was not the right time to start consultation “without knowing what the future of the Alcoa site might be”.

“Given it has been closed for many years, maintaining the status quo and deferring consultation will have minimal impact,” Cr Smith said.

Fears had been raised that reopening Coalmine Rd and Messmate Track could create a “pseudo-Anglesea bypass”, leading tourists through local roads to connect to the Great Ocean Road.

Surf Coast council addressed those concerns in April by stating it did “not support changes that would see local residential streets used as an alternate route by users of the Great Ocean Road”.