A PLANNED parking permit scheme for Chelsea traders has been put on hold pending further consultation with business owners. Kingston Council was gearing up to introduce a 12-month trial of the parking permit scheme for business owners and staff in and around Chelsea shopping centre. Some traders won’t dare park their cars near their stores – behind Chelsea shopping centre near Woolworths – because they fear being booked by inspectors. Small business owners are often unable to leave their premises to move cars from 2-3 hour spaces, and employees on set shifts can’t leave shops unattended to move cars to…
Author: Neil Walker
PLANS to build an aged care home on land at Collins St in Mentone have come under fire from some residents and Kingston councillors keen to see the area used as open public space instead. Councillors at Monday evening’s meeting voted to push ahead with plans to sell the former depot in Collins St to an aged care provider amid heated debate about the timing of the sale process. Cr Rosemary West said Kingston CEO John Nevins had previously said any sale would not take place until early next year, but there now seems to be some urgency selling the…
LABOR has pledged to stop the “plundering” of Melbourne’s green wedges if it wins government at next month’s state election. Opposition planning spokesman Brian Tee addressed the Green Wedges Coalition’s annual general meeting yesterday at Parliament House and promised that Labor would preserve green wedge boundaries if elected. “Green wedges are the lungs that keep our city liveable and only Labor will protect them,” Mr Tee said. “The Liberals have slowly eaten away at our open landscapes and soon there will be nothing left.” In recent months, Planning Minister Matthew Guy has advised Kingston Council he would consider a proposal…
AN incoming state government will press ahead with axing councillors’ discretionary ward funds no matter which major political party wins next month’s state election. The Times can reveal the Liberal and Labor parties both intend to ban ward grants as part of a wider clampdown on councillors’ conduct across Victoria. The Local Government Inspectorate investigated the use of ward funds by 32 of the state’s councils last year and found just four councils – Greater Dandenong City Council, Maribyrnong City Council, South Gippsland City Council and Greater Geelong City Council – had “demonstrated accountable practices” when distributing ward funds. The…
VANDALISM and fights hit the Frankston line last week and a train seat was slashed amid verbal altercations. Protective services officers did not intervene though because politicians, not commuters, were at the centre of the dispute. Liberal and Labor politicians became embroiled in a bitter political stoush over the arrival of the first X’Trapolis train at Frankston train station on Wednesday morning as both major parties try to gain the upper hand on public transport ahead of next month’s state election. Voters’ gripes with public transport is regarded as a key reason the Coalition state government won the marginal bayside…