Chelsea • Mordialloc • Mentone
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LETTERS No need for Bay Trail delay WHEN the Kingston Residents Association appealed the decision by Kingston Council to clear vegetation during construction of the Bay Trail, we did not intend to delay its construction. Nor do we believe this will be the result. This decision still has to be approved by Planning Minister Matthew Guy, who took more than 12 months to approve the Mentone Structure Plan. So, it is hard to see how the council would have had approval to have the job completed by Christmas, as Cr Ron Brownlees claimed (‘Appeal delays Bay Trail’, The News 22/10/14). All of our groups want the backof-kerb Bay Trail that council resolved to construct in February 2013. Our groups and the four minority councillors want the council to minimise the removal of native vegetation for the trail. Council is planning to remove as much vegetation as possible, and to take more vegetation for an extra parking lane on the gravel verge, despite the fact that cars could still park in the left-hand traffic lane as they do elsewhere on Beach Rd. No doubt some beachside residents will be pleased if their views are improved by the removal of this foreshore vegetation. We appealed to VCAT, requesting mediation, so we could have a discussion with the council which has not engaged in any meaningful consultation over the Bay Trail, or even, it seems, discussion with their councillor colleagues, except perhaps with their beachfront friends.
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Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News 29 October 2014
Had the council agreed to mediate a compromise, there would have been little or no delay, but it has refused to mediate and I have called a meeting of the appellant groups to decide where we go next. Maureen Lim, president, Kingston Residents Association
Councillors, KRA ‘vindicated’ THANKS to The News for reporting the right-of-reply statements published in the Parliamentary Hansard last week (‘Conflicts continue over ward grants’, The News 22/10/14). This was some vindication for the four councillors and two community members who have been damaged by Lorraine Wreford’s false and baseless accusations, not to mention the worthy, well-intentioned members of Kingston Residents Association, who have had a question mark put over their good works all year by Ms Wreford. It is important to note that Ms Wreford did not cite a single example of a Labor campaign activity that Kingston Residents Association had carried out, before using parliament as a ‘cowards castle’ to malign the KRA as a front for Labor campaign activities. Neither this, nor the long list of KRA achievements, stopped her allegations being reported in The News and amplified on Ms Wreford’s website for months in a nasty game of political football. I cannot recall an MP attacking a local Kingston community group like this in my 11 years on council. Cr Rosemary West, Central Ward
Retain our park WITH the Collins St depot site cleared, the council seems ready to sell it to an aged care developer, as announced last year. This requires a public process at which residents can object. The council majority shows little concern for the Mentone residents who have in petitions and at a public meeting made known their need for this land for parkland. We already have more highdensity development and less public open space than anywhere else in Kingston. Council shows even less concern for the interests of our elderly residents. On Father’s Day, I took my family across two major roads and a railway line to Keith Styles Reserve in Mentone. While there, we saw four wheelchairs being wheeled to the park from Remo St aged care by their families. Although we were at the park for only an hour, I imagine this sort of activity occurs regularly. It is sad to think this won’t be possible if council relocates the Remo St nursing home to the Collins St depot site. Kingston Council, please retain Remo St aged care so that its residents can retain access to open space for their health and wellbeing. Gavin Roberts, Mentone
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