Save the Warneet Jetties
North Jetty Closed June 2020, South Jetty closed 20/9/22
Current Status at a Glance @ 22/11/23
There is much correspondence and many meetings as all parties work to find a solution. Here is the reality of the situation to date. See Updates section for more detail:
Long Term Restore/Rebuild the jetties
More Progress! We are delighted to report that the project is now officially listed on the Parks Victoria website here and notice of tender issuance has been posted here on the Victorian Government tender website.
The Parks Victoria website states:
Final planning, assessments and construction-ready design work for the new jetties are underway.
Following an advance tender notice in late 2023, the tender for construction to rebuild the jetties is anticipated to be released in the first quarter of 2024.
Construction will commence once all planning stages are completed.
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, however, there have been two incidents recently whereby public safety has been at risk because there has been no emergency access to the jetties. We have written to Parks Victoria requesting that a key be provided to the gates for each jetty to the Warneet North Boat Club and the Warneet Motor Yacht Club respectively and for them to be given permission to access and use the the jetties should there be an emergency that threatens public safety. We are hoping for a reply in the near future.
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.
