A grand vision to extend a walking and cycling track from Lake Gillear to Childers Cove in a bid to increase tourism to the city has been unveiled.
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Councillor Mike Neoh said the idea was the type of "big picture stuff" that the council should be focused on.
Cr Neoh said the project would create a greater link between Warrnambool and the Great Ocean Road.
"People have always talked about a road along here but in the short-term, if you can walk to Childers Cove, you'd get a lot of people coming from the Great Ocean Road end," he said.
The project would also be a boost for tourism - a sector that would need as much help as it could get in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
The existing gravel path only goes a short distance, Cr Neoh said, but there were informal farming tracks and dirt bike tracks along that section of the coast.
"I don't think we need a pavement that's silky smooth," he said.
But a path for trekkers and mountain bikers would open the area up to tourism operators who could drop people at Childers Cove and be picked up at Warrnambool, he said.
The plan would also allow cyclists starting at Childers Cove to link up with Moyjil, the rail trail to Tower Hill and Port Fairy and then further along to the Great South West Walk and Budj Bim.
"We really need to link Tower Hill with the Twelve Apostles. This is the ideal spot," he said.
"Obviously when you come inland from the Great Ocean Road you can't actually see the sea but if we had a path along the coast, that really makes Warrnambool part of the coast rather than just an after thought."
Warrnambool City Council staff have already been in touch with their Moyne counterparts about the idea
"It's just a matter of working with the local indigenous community to make sure that we've got permission. Really it's just a gravel path that we need. It's just formalising what's already there and getting permission from landowners," Cr Neoh said.
"Some of the path goes through private property. We would need to negotiate that."
With the recent creation of the new Great Ocean Road authority to manage the coast all the way to Thunder Point, Cr Neoh hoped the project's planning could be fast-tracked.
He said it wouldn't cost a lot of dollars and an employment program similar to the one used to build the city's foreshore promenade could be used.
Cr Neoh said significant money had been invested in the Great Ocean Road and it was now time to look at a "visionary strategy" to extend the experience beyond the 12 Apostles.
With eco-tourism on the rise, he said it was the perfect stimulus project for a tourism-led recovery from the pandemic.
The plan would be to get the project shovel-ready and seek state government funding for the project.
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