A drop-in session to allow the community to have a say about the 17-kilometre long reserve’s future management attracted lots of people after the issue of racehorses training on the reserve’s beaches aroused lots of controversy during the past year.

Among those to give their views was Killarney resident and well-known musician Shane Howard who said more than 20 racehorses were being trained on the golf course section of Port Fairy’s East Beach despite an agreement to cap the numbers at 20.

Mr Howard said he believed the cap was being exceeded because horse access to Warrnambool’s Lady Bay had been washed away in recent heavy seas.

He also said racehorses were being trained at The Cutting beach despite an agreement not to do so during the current hooded plover breeding season.

Mr Howard said the state government’s bid to introduce a permit system for the training of racehorses on the reserve was still in limbo after its attempt to bring in the system as an administrative process was blocked in the Upper House.

The political hiatus meant the training of racehorses on the reserve’s beaches was “unlawful” because they were no regulations to allow it, he said.

Legal avenues to stop racehorses being trained in the reserve were being explored by the Belfast Coastal Reserve Action Group (BCRAG), Mr Howard said.

He said the reserve was one of the few areas of native vegetation between the south-west coast and the Grampians and the community needed to consider the value it placed on the ecology.

Staff from Parks Victoria, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and Moyne Shire Council were at the drop-in session to provide some background information on the management plan and receive feedback.

Parks Victoria will also hold “listening posts,” alternating between Warrnambool and Port Fairy over the next four weeks, to gather more feedback.

Another community meeting will be held at the Killarney Cricket Club on May 13 at which Parks Victoria will share what the consultation process has gathered.