Ballarat residents angry about a plan to add lighting to a track around Lake Wendouree have vowed to fight on despite council having already approved the project.
About 100 people gathered at Lake Wendouree on Tuesday to speak out against the plan to install around 225 lights to illuminate the Steve Moneghetti Track at night.
While some residents have been advocating for lighting around Lake Wendouree's 6-kilometre running track for decades, the plan gathered momentum ahead of the 2018 state election.
The Victorian government committed $2.5 million to fund the project after both major parties promised to fund the lighting project.
A bright idea?
In October 2021, City of Ballarat approved the planning permit to install overhead lights at 25 to 30-metre intervals around the track, except the section bordering the botanical gardens.
Under the council's lighting plan, the censor-controlled lights would come on at dusk and turn off at 10pm, and in the morning they would turn on at 5:30am and run until there was sufficient daylight.
Prior to its approval, the planning application received 23 objections and four letters of support.
However, earlier council consultation of 1,800 people found 82 per cent supported some kind of lighting of Lake Wendouree's Steve Moneghetti track.
Despite the lighting project being put to tender soon, opponents at Tuesday's rally implored council to listen to their concerns and reconsider.
'Get it right'
Speaking at the event, Liberal MP Bev McArthur said she did not care if council had voted for it and gone through every process, the current lighting plan seemed like a terrible idea.
Several residents spoke of concerns which ranged from lighting poles impeding the views of lakeside residents and looking like "prison bars", damage to trees caused by the installation of the lighting poles, light pollution harming wildlife, and the cost of the project.
As part of the planning process, City of Ballarat obtained an arborist impact assessment, which stated there was high probability of root damage occurring during the installation of the light towers and this should be taken into account when planning construction.
A biodiversity impact assessment found there could be potential impact to aquatic insects which are important to the health of the lake and are a food source for waterbirds and the lake's introduced trout population.
But the assessment said the level of impact was difficult to predict without further monitoring studies and it was expected "the impacts would be minor".
Margaret Cutter, who introduced herself as a sixth generation Ballarat ratepayer said to the crowd: "If the current lighting plans go ahead, Lake Wendouree … the jewel in Ballarat's crown, will be destroyed for current and future generations."
Local photographer Peter Kervarec, one of the rally's organisers, told ABC Ballarat there were "other ways to do this" instead of lighting the Steve Moneghetti Track so people can run at night.
Court the only option
Councillor Samantha McIntosh, who supports lighting but voted against the council's plan, questioned why ground level lighting options were not considered.
But she conceded it would be difficult to halt the project.
"The advice I'm being given by other council colleagues and our CEO is that there is not any way of seeing a different outcome other than taking it the Supreme Court," Ms McIntosh said.
City of Ballarat CEO Evan King and Mayor Daniel Moloney were contacted for comment.
