Construction of the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination is expected to begin in 2024

*Story updated on the official first day of construction of the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination trail

Back in December he had word that the Victorian Planning Minister, Sonya Kilkenny, had signed off on the Warburton Cycle Area Planning Amendment, allowing the project to go ahead. Located in the bush surrounding Mount Donna Buang, the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination offers 160km of singletrack about 90 minutes from Melbourne – giving it the largest catchment area in Tasmania. It became the first mountain bike network to be forced to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment, taking it to an expensive and time-consuming unspecified location.

The news comes as the Yarra Ranges Council unveiled a new 'UGE pump track' at Wesburn Park.

“It's a big milestone. It's the kind of essential thing we needed to get everything set up,” said Yarra Ranges Council Senior Project Manager Matt Harrington.

We've been reporting on the curious issue of the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination since 2019. If you're not up to date on what's happened so far or need a refresher, grab a drink and check out our in-depth coverage.

What does this mean?

For those who can't get in, out and legalize the planning process in Victoria, as Harrington explains, this signature on the Planning Amendment is like when you're trying to build a house, and get planning permission. Once you have that, you still have to get a building permit and other technical documents together before breaking ground.

For the Warburton Mountain Bike Area, within the PSA there is something called a 'bundling document', which sets out what the Council needs to do and the responsibilities it has before the project starts.

“Some of those obligations include other documents that need to be approved by the Minister, things like the Construction Environmental Management Plan, and the Operational Environment Management Plan,” said Harrington.

“These other documents are similar to construction permits because they are technical documents. As long as we fulfill the technical requirements, they will just move forward,” he explained.

So, more or less, there is paperwork to be done, and the project can finally clear the dirt. But don't expect to see bottles of Harrington just yet.

“I don't celebrate until we stick a shovel in the ground. I learned the hard way that there are always twists and turns to this project that you don't foresee coming. It's good to lock in this big event, but I always remember how difficult this journey was. So I will celebrate later,” he said.

Splitting up the project to get started

With this announcement that the Minister has signed the first phase of this project, we also found that the Planning Plan Amendments have been divided into two. One is at the southern end of the project, with more than 100km of singletrack in regional forest, and the other is in the northern part of the Yarra Ranges National Park.

“We are continuing to work with Parks Victoria regarding the amendment of the second plan. We have made it clear to all stakeholders that we remain fully committed to delivering the full project, and we will continue to work with Parks to try to resolve any issues we have,” he said.

Reading between the lines here, the project could not be divided unless one of the stakeholders continued to interfere after the approval of the EES. We can only guess what is going on behind the scenes, but it seems that despite the approval of the EES, Parks Vic is still working hard to block trails in the Yarra Ranges National Park.

Of course, the National Park trails were always planned to be the second phase of the project. So splitting them up and removing the idea of ​​Parks Vic from the rest of the network means that what's left – which is the vast majority – can continue.

“Due to the transformation of native timber and the loss of jobs in the region, but also with the large number of stakeholders and businesses that have already invested in the region after this project, we really want to bring something to be successful. they can get something back in the community,” said Harrington.

Still, over 100km of road in 90 minutes outside of Melbourne is a big win! Glen Jacobs of World Trail tells us they are locked and loaded. Originally, construction was expected to begin in April, however it had to be pushed back due to several long-standing permits. But the Yarra Ranges Council will release the World Trail team in mid-June!

“Our teams are locked in. All our equipment and everything is down to start work,” said Jacobs.

“We are very happy to see it continue and finally get down there,” he said.

As always, we've been keeping an eye on this project for four years and counting, and we'll keep you up to date on the curious Warburton Mountain Bike Project.