Save the Warneet Jetties
North Jetty Closed June 2020, South Jetty closed 20/9/22
Current Status at a Glance @ 11/11/24
Contracts havebeen awarded for the rebuild of the North and South Jetties. See Updates section for more detail:
Long Term Restore/Rebuild the jetties
More Progress! The tender process is complete and contracts have been awarded for the rebuild of both North and South jetties. Work is expected to commence summer2025.
The project is listed on the Parks Victoria website here and there is an excellent newsletter provided by Parks Victoria on the project here.
We are all delighted the jetties will soon be open again for all to enjoy.
Short Term - Repair/Reinstate the South jetty or implement a suitable short term solution
It is now very clear that the long term solution will also be the short term solution. We have changed the status to a smiley green on the basis that the tender process is nearly complete and construction will start, we hope, before the end of 2024.
We thank Jordan Crugnale MP and the State Government, Better Boating Victoria and Parks Victoria for their support and hard work to date.
What is all the fuss about? - a brief summary
The Warneet jetties were originally built and maintained by the local community, the first (North Jetty) was built in 1930.
Over the years the state authorities took over the running and maintenance of the jetties, first it was the Ports and Harbours authority and in more recent years Parks Victoria became responsible for all jetties and piers in Victoria.
Unfortunately Parks Victoria have not been adequately maintaining these piers and jetties and consequently, over a number of years several piers and jetties in Port Phillip and Western Port Bay have fallen into a state of disrepair and subsequently been closed for public use. Although some of these have been re opened many remain closed such as - eg: Flinders Pier, Rye Pier, Anne Street Pier (Williamstown) and Central Pier are some examples.
Parks Victoria closed the North Jetty in June 2020 for reasons of being structurally unsafe.
Parks Victoria closed a section of the South Jetty in June 2020 for reasons of being structurally unsafe and now most recently (on the 20th September 2022) they have closed the entire South Jetty for reason of being structurally unsafe. In both cases there was less than 24 hours notice given to the community.
Parks Victoria state they are not able to repair the North jetty and the southern section at the end of the South jetty because the costs are too high - costs that could have easily been avoided if a proper maintenance programme had been in place.
We have obtained quotes from Parks Victoria approved engineers for significantly less that Parks Victoria estimates to reinstate the North Jetty.
Warneet Motor Yacht club would like to work with Parks Victoria to repair and recommission the jetties. At this stage Parks Victoria seem unwilling to do so.
Meanwhile Better Boating Victoria have plans to renovate and expand the capacity of the boat ramp and possibly the jetties with what is known as the "precinct plan" but the project has no budget and no timescales. Learn more about the precinct plan here>>
We now have an immediate and urgent need for access to land at all states of tide for deep draft vessels. This is to mitigate the risk of personal injury or death to those involved in boating activity in the area. Such access, albeit barely adequate for the number of vessels that use the estuary, was provided via what was left of the South Jetty prior to its recent closure.
The Warneet and neighbouring coastal village communities want their jetties to be repaired and recommissioned, either by Parks Victoria in their current capacity as the government body responsible for Jetties and Piers in Victoria or by some kind of partnership between Parks Victoria and the Warneet Community.
