FRANKSTON councillors refused to reverse a flip-flop on support for a major container port at Hastings. An attempt by mayor Cr Brian Cunial to rescind a notice of motion passed by a majority of councillors at an earlier council meeting ran aground last week. A 6-2 vote went against reversing council’s decision to end its support for a container port at Hastings. Frankston Council officially backed a port at Hastings until councillors voted to sail away from that policy early this month. Cr Kris Bolam said he had changed his mind about backing a Hastings port and promises of future…
Author: Neil Walker
WORKS to begin building a Mordialloc bypass got underway this week at the Waterways estate wetlands. Five boreholes, 35-50 metres deep, are being drilled at possible bridge pier sites to carry out geotechnical studies into potential impacts on the environmentally-sensitive wetlands. The sudden commencement of geotechnical works, mere weeks after the Labor state government announced $300 million in funding in the 2 May state budget to build the arterial road, saw politicians don hard hats and fluoro vests for coverage by Melbourne TV news crews. A large pontoon, from which drilling is taking place, was lifted into the wetlands by…
PUTTING vista views in the picture is the focus of an art exhibition at Frankston Art Centre’s Cube 37 Gallery featuring the work of Chisholm TAFE students. The Little Landscapes 9×5 Exhibition displays student artists’ paintings of Stony Point vistas on small boards inspired by the Heidelberg School of Melbourne painters who displayed works on cigar boxes first produced in 1889. Emily Dunstan, 35, is studying for a diploma of visual arts at Chisholm TAFE in Frankston. She is “following a passion” and hopes to work as a curator in an arts gallery after graduation. “We visited an area where…
QUESTIONS over negotiations between Mornington Peninsula Shire and a Frankston Council-established company to possibly outsource the management of peninsula sports centres remain unanswered, despite the shire pouring cold water on any such plans. The shire posted a statement on its Facebook page last week but did not answer several questions for the second week in succession about talks with Peninsula Leisure Pty Ltd to manage Pelican Park Recreation Centre in Hastings, the Crib Point Pool, Civic Reserve Recreation Centre in Mornington and the Somerville Recreation and Community Centre (“Sports ‘in the swim’”, The Times 15/5/17). Peninsula Leisure, the company owned…
A BAY watch coalition of the willing will be established to act on Port Phillip Bay pollution if a Kingston Council plan gains state and federal government support. Councillors at a public council meeting this month unanimously agreed to write to state and federal MPs to seek cooperation and participation in a joint committee to try to clean up water quality at bayside beaches. Cr Georgina Oxley said water pollution is increasingly a problem along Kingston’s 13 kilometres of foreshore. “There has been a lot of concern, particularly during the summer months, around the bay pollution,” she said at the…