COUNCILLORS are divided over plans to build an aged care home in Collins St, Mentone, with some backing a community push to use the land as public open space. Council has begun an expressions-of-interest process to find an aged care provider to buy the site but some councillors would like it to also look at a second option: building a 70-bed facility at the Mordialloc Community Nursing Home’s Remo St site in Mentone instead (‘Aged care home an open space invader’, The News 29/10/14). The councillors argue the Collins St land should be used for parkland. Kingston Council is exiting…
Author: Neil Walker
KINGSTON Council is scrambling to do all it can to save the iconic Mentone Hotel. Councillors voted on Monday evening to support any state government review of state heritage procedures to avoid the need for “last minute interventions”. Councillors were surprised when the owners of the pub, Open Door Pub Co, announced The Edgy’s closure earlier this month. There are fears the new owner could try to convert the venue into a residential apartment block (‘Pub loss makes regulars edgy’, The News 12/11/14). Cr Rosemary West said the potential loss of The Edgy, which closed its doors last Sunday, worried…
A WASTE transfer hub could be established in Kingston’s Green Wedge despite Kingston Council’s efforts to stop the area becoming “Melbourne’s waste hub”. Councillors unanimously voted to ask the state’s planning minister, whoever that may be after Saturday’s election, to consider a formal council request to rezone green wedge land north of Kingston and Heatherton roads from Special Use Zone Schedule 2 to Green Wedge A Zone. This aims to prevent more waste and landfill businesses setting up operations there. However, it has emerged that, during the public consultation process, state government agency Sustainability Victoria wrote to Kingston Council advising…
A PEACE of sorts has broken out among Frankston councillors previously at odds with each other over the cost of a new war memorial to be located at Beauty Park. Some councillors baulked at a $1.4 million price tag for a new memorial and found themselves under fire from some in the community over a lack of progress on the project. Cr Colin Hampton said “the project was rushed” to meet the 2015 centenary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli and all councillors had not been “engaged” with the original costly “grand plan”. Councillors agreed at this month’s council meeting…
BOTH major parties have promised major investment in Frankston to try to convince voters to back their candidate in this week’s state election. The Liberal and Labor parties have pledged tens of millions of dollars to upgrade Frankston train station and its surrounds, provide more funding for Chisholm TAFE and increase health services spending at Frankston Hospital. Opinion polls favour the Labor Party to win back government after the defeat of the Brumby government in 2010, but a week is a long time in politics and the Liberals could still retain government. Premier Denis Napthine must hope the innately conservative…