Victory for the Bellarine DAL, its now officially signed!

Hello all, When we started this petition, we thought 500 signatures would be a great outcome for St Leonards, instead 1565 of you believed strongly enough to sign, thank you. What a fantastic outcome it has been for Protecting our beautiful Bellarine It is now official, in correspondence received from Lisa Neville's office this week, the legislation for the Bellarine DAL has passed the parliament. The Statement of Planning has now been approved, and township boundaries are set in theory for the next 50 years. This means that any changes to our township boundaries will require the 2 Houses of Parliament to amend the legislation. It is interesting to note that The Standing Advisory Committee recommended that the DAL should not contain protected settlement boundaries. Thankfully the Victorian government did not accept this recommendation. This outcome is huge for the Bellarine and a big thank you goes to everyone who signed this petition. What this means for St Leonards, is that our township boundary will remain at Ibbotson Street, excluding the remaining older section of the golf course which will remain OUTSIDE the township boundary. As previously mentioned the Collendina Hotel has been included in the Ocean Grove township boundaries, and Queenscliff now have a settlement boundary. For more information on the township boundaries and information regarding things such as protection of town amenity, character etc head to: https://engage.vic.gov.au/project/distinctive-areas-and-landscapes-program/page/bellarine-peninsula Lisa Neville has been a big driver for getting this legislation passed. Andy Meddick was also enormous assistance and support to the Combined Community Associations and Protect the Bellarine, in also making sure our voices were heard. Thank you both. The Community Associations and Progress Associations across the Bellarine, including the St Leonards Progress Association have been instrumental in conveying the voices of the community to government too. Protect the Bellarine will remain committed to being an impactful community led movement, inspired by the belief that everyday people can make real change. We have always said that 'the only way we succeed, is when the change comes from within.' Once again thank you all for your concern about this issue and your support... this is a huge win for the protection of what we all love about the Bellarine. Regards Protect the Bellarine