NEW regulations being introduced in December mean backyard pool and spa owners must pay $37 registration fees to Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. The shire says it knows of about 17,000 combined pools and spas on the peninsula – the most of any municipality in Victoria. Under the state-wide rules, owners must shell out $20 for compliance certificates from qualified surveyors and arrange three-yearly inspections of pool fences and safety barriers. Fines of up to $330 will be levied if pools are found to not comply. Owners will have 20 days to fix safety issues. The deadline for registrations is 14…
Author: Stephen Taylor
SOLO Resource Recovery has been hired to collect Mornington Peninsula Shire’s household recycled waste. The new contract means recyclable waste collected for the shire will not go to landfill. The change comes after discredited former contractor SKM put a sudden stop on all incoming material late last week. The company was wound up by the Supreme Court last Friday (2 August). The signing with Solo means there will be no disruption to kerbside collections. The shire and 30 other municipalities was told on Thursday night 25 July that SKM would “cease accepting recyclable material effective immediately”. The mayor Cr David…
ANGRY traders and their customers in the Mt Martha shopping strip were reeling on Thursday after United Energy cut the power from 8am-5pm. The power cut was necessary for the removal of one wooden power poles and to put power lines underground. The pole, now replaced by one metal silver lamppost, were taken out to improve views across Port Phillip from a house being built alongside the heritage-listed Green Gables near the Dominion Road corner. Most of the village’s 41 businesses were forced to close their doors or restrict staff hours on what would normally be a busy trading day.…
FORMER Balnarring resident David Wisken thought he was seeing double when visiting The Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux, France, in April. Touring the museum and interpretative centre on Anzac Day he turned a corner only to come face to face with the Balnarring honour board. It looked exactly the same as the one he recalled hanging up in the old Balnarring Mechanics Institute back home. This new board – a painstaking constructed replica of the original now hanging at Balnarring hall – includes the names of the young men from the district who fought overseas in World War I.…
RESIDENTS concerned about any proposed widening of Bungower Road for use by heavy vehicles are supporting Somerville resident Chris Bakewell. They have backed his stand against a Port of Hastings 2018 Port Development Strategy which confirms that “key transport routes [including Bungower Road] have been earmarked for upgrading by VicRoads”. The residents fear the road is unsuitable for industrial traffic and, although nothing is planned for several years, Mr Bakewell said a “lack of consultation and clarity with residents” was worrying. His submission reads: “We, the local residents of Somerville and Tyabb, request that common sense and respect for the…
SLOWLY but surely, single use plastic is being phased out on the Mornington Peninsula. In what’s being called a “fitting nod to the end of plastic free July”, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council last week committed to reducing single use plastics and set itself the goal of eliminating their use in council-controlled environments. The mayor Cr David Gill said the policy would impact council events, the use of council land and facilities and shire business, such as tenders, leases and contracts. “As a council we’re acting on the concerns of our community by raising this important environmental issue,” he said. “A…
CRIB Point Football Netball Club players got into the spirit of things on Saturday night by shaving their heads and raising more than $12,000 for the fight against leukaemia. The money will go to the Leukaemia Foundation to support affected families and research into lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma. Two months ago senior football vice-captain Ethan Smith began the World’s Greatest Shave fundraising campaign with the aim of raising $10,000. He encouraged 20 players to shed their locks, then created a poster featuring six as part of a social media campaign. Players, staff and club members were encouraged to share a…
SOMERVILLE residents are worried that widening Bungower Road is designed to increase its use by heavy vehicles. They are backing a submission by Chris Bakewell against a 2018 Port of Hastings development strategy which lists key transport routes, including Bungower Road, for future upgrading by VicRoads. The works would also benefit a proposed 600-hectare industrial development stretching from Hastings to Yaringa boat harbour and inland almost to Coolart Road. Although nothing is planned for several years, Mr Bakewell said a “lack of consultation and clarity with residents” was worrying. He has forwarded his submission to the Port of Hastings Authority,…
THE iconic Mini Minor still radiates an intoxicating air of engineering elan and “swinging 60s” fashion flair in the eyes of British car enthusiast, Graeme Urch. The Mt Martha resident owns a rare and internationally significant BMC Works Mini that was brought to Australia to race in the late 1960s. Now, fully restored with genuine original parts and an eye for detail, the 1967 Austin Cooper has its own story to tell on the 60th anniversary of the first Mini being sketched on a tablecloth by designer Alec Issigonis. His brief was to design a fuel-efficient car in response to…
OPTUS says a public consultation process will take place before any site is selected for a proposed 4G base station at Capel Sound. The company’s corporate affairs advisor Rob Sharpe said the consultation phase was “us consulting on any planned sites”. “No decision has been made [on a site] and Optus is now assessing alternative locations raised by the community,” he said. “A public consultation will be undertaken for any site selected and we look forward to working with council and the community to deliver improved coverage and capacity for residents, business and visitors to Capel Sound area and surrounds.”…
UP to 50 irrigators across Tyabb and Somerville will be assessed as part of a study into them using class A recycled water which is now piped into the sea near Boags Rocks, Gunnamatta. The study, being run by South East Water, Mornington Peninsula Shire and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, will make waste water from the Carrum Downs treatment plant available for agriculture and possibly also for fighting bushfires. Primary producers and growers have long suffered as their dams run dry resulting in reduced food production and workers being laid off. One farming couple, Baxter farmers…
THE death of a mate in a car crash in April was the catalyst for a road safety instruction night at Rye Football and Netball Club. Seventeen-year-old Timothy Hocking died and four others were injured when a Mazda CX3 with five young people on board struck a tree near the intersection of Marshall and Field streets, Tootgarook, early on Friday 12 April. (“Driver charged after fatal crash in suburban street” The News 15/4/19). Club vice-president Mark Egan said some of the players had known Timothy Hocking and his death had hit them hard. “We let things settle down a bit,…
A CONTROVERSIAL study into the causes and prevention of the devastating Buruli ulcer could lead to parts of Rye, Sorrento, Blairgowrie and Tootgarook being sprayed with chemicals in coming months. Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor, Cr David Gill has called on the state government to stop the study until a “full environmental impact assessment” has been made. He says the program being run by the Department of Health and Human Services is being carried out with “little regard for the environment or [its] effect on people”. The “cluster randomised control trial” would involve dousing nature strips with a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide…
YARINGA boat harbour developer Stefan Borzecki has sold his 200-hectare French Island property to a Chinese company that may be able to realise his dream of establishing a wind farm capable of powering the entire Mornington Peninsula. He says the company has built similar projects in the Philippines and China. The buyer – reportedly with links to the second largest power company in China – paid $3.5 million for the land on three titles, including a house, at the north-western corner of the island. The sale includes a feasibility study into a wind farm as well as weather monitoring equipment.…
A PROBLEM for women in first world countries is what to do with old bras, while many women in third world countries can only dream of getting one. That’s part of the rationale behind the Uplift Project which donates used bras, including mastectomy and nursing bras, to underprivileged women in the South Pacific and Asia as well as rural Australia. The penny dropped for celebrant and Red Hill Lions Club member Kerry Holgate when she saw the story on the TV news. “I thought it was such a good idea as everyone has a drawer full of old bras which…
CONCERNED Capel Sound residents are fighting a proposed Optus mobile phone tower on the northern side of Pt Nepean Road, opposite Violet Street. The residents prefer the tower to be 250 metres south on the foreshore reserve opposite 1781-1795 Pt Nepean Road. This would take it away from a bus stop used by school children, residential areas, and the Bay Trail – and mean less vegetation has to be removed in construction. Their main concern is the negative health impacts they fear low level radiation emissions have on human health. Phone towers can emit radiation up to 500 metres, with…
IT’S hard to doubt Sorrento CFA veteran Greg Salmon when he says his 50-year medal presentation was “one of the best nights I’ve ever had”. The long-time Sorrento resident was honoured at a dinner at Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club attended by 80 CFA members and guests, Friday 28 June. Long service awards were presented to seven Sorrento Urban Fire Brigade members, with Brigade Captain Michael Versteegen saying the “most impressive went to Greg Salmon, who received an award for 50 years continued and diligent service”. “Greg rose from firefighter, through lieutenant to captain of the fire brigade, and, since…
A ST ANDREWS’ woman is on a mission to rid the beaches of tiny plastic waste particles called nurdles. Lyn Wedd said the minute pellets were washing down drains, over the beaches of Port Phillip and through the Heads and around to St Andrews ocean beach, near Rye. She wants to inspire the possibly uninformed plastics manufacturers and handlers of the nurdles to “clean up their act”. “To date, they’ve been getting away with it but, hopefully, new legislation will make them more accountable,” she said last week while cleaning a section of Mt Eliza’s foreshore at Canadian Bay. “We…
REGULAR campers along the Rye and Sorrento foreshores are being hit with big site fee increases while campers at Rosebud are not. Many families, some who have been camping at Rye for more than 50 years, feel they are being discriminated against by a restructuring of the fees and removal of before and after peak season packages. They say the fee restructure by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council equates to a 50 per cent increase. The council wrote to campers last week saying pre-peak and post-peak season packages would no longer apply and that fees would now be based on a…
CONTINENTAL Hotel owner Julian Gerner must have been warmed by the strong showing of support he received at last week’s public meeting in Sorrento, however cool the prospects of a quick sale of the derelict icon are in its half-finished state. Mr Gerner appeared to be the star of the show in the packed Sorrento Community Hall on Sunday 30 June, as he explained to a seemingly sympathetic audience of 400 how his development plans had come to a halt. He talked up the prospects of a buyer being found by the end of this month able to stump up…
THE tide is turning against jet-ski hoons who face curbs on their antics at popular bay beaches. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council wants Maritime Safety Victoria to bring in tough new laws, possibly by this summer, to toughen rules on the water craft and possibly ban them from popular swimming areas such as Rye, The Pillars, Mt Martha and Safety Beach, as well as limit them to specific zones well away from swimmers. Other rules would ban them from mooring off beaches and at jetties and require riders to be aged over 18. CCTV cameras would be used to monitor errant…
THE surf’s up for Padua College student Sarsha Pancic, who was crowned the Victorian under-14 girls’ junior surfing champion in May. She will now represent Victoria at the Surf Dive and Ski Australian Junior Surfing Titles at Margaret River, Western Australia, in the first week of December. It’s been a big year for the Blairgowrie surfer who achieved success in three rounds of the Woolworths Victorian Junior Surfing titles in which she won at Phillip Island, placed third at Gunnamatta and came second at Jan Juc. Sarsha, 13, in year 8, grew to love the sport from an early age:…
A GROUP of Community Lifestyle Accommodation mums, dads and potential residents took a walk through the new Murray Anderson Road House at Rosebud last week. The $2.5 million supported accommodation project to house eight adults with intellectual disabilities is expected to open in September. Most residents of the house will have been cared for by their parents since birth. “Final places for residents will be determined in a couple of months, but it is a magnificent building,” CLA patron Russell Joseph said. Although a step in the right direction, the housing development, financed by the Uniting Church, represents only a…
VICROADS is being blamed for flooded roads and gutters dampening trade along Rosebud’s shopping strip. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council says the pits and drainage system are the responsibility of VicRoads to clean and maintain and that it contacted the authority to alert it to blocked sewage run off points causing flooding along the strip as far back as May. Jetty’s Pizza proprietor Bahaa Jamal Eddine said calls to the shire complaining about flooding on the corner of Jetty and Point Nepean roads and urging a quick clean-up had not been actioned and that the flooding was turning customers away (“Flooded…
IMPROVING the well-being of some of the most vulnerable people in the community is a cause worth pursuing. So, a project to relieve the boredom and cognitive decline of people living with dementia and other disabilities deserves special attention. Advance Community College project supervisor Sam Knowles and her team are producing stimulation materials for elderly residents designed to be both soothing and help them retain their motor skills. The items include sensory blankets, pillows and other “fiddle” items, with a variety of stimulatory elements, such as different colours and textures, and tactile elements, such as beads, ribbons, zips and buttons.…
DINNER table conversations might understandably lean towards table tennis at the Hollow family home. Charlie Hollow, 10, and his sister Georgia, 8, are gearing up for the Australian junior championships at Wollongong next week before Charlie heads to New Zealand to play for Australia in late September. The children, who live in Mt Martha and attend Mt Martha Primary, train at the Mornington Table Tennis Club in Dunns Road, Mornington. Dad Scott Hollow said table tennis had played a big role in the family’s past. “The children’s grandfather, Robert, played for Victoria 70 years ago and I played at Coburg…
NEW research shows the postcode you’re born in can radically impact your whole future. That’s the finding of research conducted by Teach For Australia which shows that, even before starting school, children from low socioeconomic backgrounds are much more likely to be developmentally unready compared to their higher socioeconomic peers. The not-for-profit organisation says it seeks to improve the educational outcomes for all children by “rigorously recruiting Australia’s top talent and training them to be exceptional teachers and leaders in schools and communities with the highest need”. The results of the research show a mix of good and bad outcomes…
THE number of homeless people on the Mornington Peninsula is increasing and waiting lists for emergency housing are getting longer. That sad truth, made plain by Office of Housing statistics, is a stark daily reality to SalvoCare Eastern Rosebud coordinator Judy Cooper. She spoke to The News last week while out shopping for food supplies to help feed those desperate for help. “More people are presenting; there are always more people seeking help,” she said. Her comments come in the lead up to Homelessness Week: 4-10 August, with its theme “Housing Ends Homelessness’’. The plight of the homeless on the…
Stephen Taylor and Keith Platt AN uneasy truce has been declared over the issues of planning and operating permits for businesses within the Tyabb Airfield precinct. Talks last week between Mornington Peninsula Shire and Peninsula Aero Club resulted in both sides agreeing to co-operate on “a reasonable set of working arrangements to be included in the airfield master plan by the end of September”. The shire will contact businesses outlining how they obtain the necessary operating permits. Details about the lack of permits are contained in a report compiled by a Queen’s Counsel appointed by the shire in May. The…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council says it will continue to press the state government for the extra $5 million needed to install a roundabout at the dangerous Forest Drive and Nepean Highway intersection. The need for road safety improvements at the Mt Martha intersection has long been a priority of the council. Infrastructure strategy and climate change manager Davey Smith said that part of the council’s Towards Zero road safety commitment was “to actively advocate to the state government to improve safety at high risk intersections that are the responsibility of VicRoads”. He said the federal government allocated $5 million on…