Line avoids sky rail
Religion ruling ‘a win for wedge’
LONG stretches of the Frankston line will not see sky rail erected but an 8-metre high elevated rail bridge will be built for about one kilometre between Kananook and Frankston train stations. The state government announced over the weekend that rail under road is the way ahead to separate road from rail at Bonbeach and Edithvale. The Level Crossing Removal Authority said a “hybrid design” will be built at Seaford by lowering Seaford Rd and the rail line will be “placed on a planted embankment to separate road from rail”. Labor Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the government had been guided by engineering advice when deciding how best to remove 11 level crossings along the Frankston line. Construction works will begin at the Skye Rd/Overton Rd level crossing intersection later this year. “We’re fast tracking this crossing to reduce congestion and make Frankston safer, sooner,” Ms Allan said in a statement. The government also announced early last week that roads will be separated from rail at level crossings in Mentone and Cheltenham by digging trenches for the rail line to travel below ground level.
A CONTENTIOUS council-backed bid to build a place of worship on green wedge land in Carrum Downs has been rejected on religious grounds by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal after an appeal by the Defenders of the South East Green Wedge group. A VCAT panel found the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) — a self-proclaimed “philosophical organisation based on the spiritual teachings of all religions and dedicated to a process of inner development under the guidance of a spiritual teacher” — is not a recognised religion despite being granted nonprofit religious institution status by the Australian Taxation Office. In the VCAT report outlining the decision made after hearings on 1314 February, panel member Michael Deidun noted: “I was informed during the course of the hearing that members of RSSB Australia Pty Ltd maintain their existing religious beliefs, whether they be Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu or another religion.” Mr Deidun said: “The activities being conducted on the land are not related to the the practice or following of a religion.” RSSB’s “spiritual leader” is Baba
Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au
Win but fight goes on: No Sky Rail: Frankston Line spokesman Willem Popp at a protest last year against any rail over road plans. Picture: Gary Sissons
No Sky Rail: Frankston Line spokesman Willem Popp took to Facebook on Sunday to say the group had “won” its argument against elevated rail along the Frankston line. “Public pressure and persistence pays off with fabulous outcomes announced for both the Edithvale and Bonbeach crossings and a compromise for Seaford,” Mr Popp said on Facebook on Sunday. “So much hard work has gone in to get to this point, by many people with so much support from those in our community.” No decision for Carrum has been declared yet but the government says a trench cannot be dug due to the nearby Patterson River. A rail bridge may be built at a new crossing at McLeod Rd in Carrum and the Station St crossing could be shut and a new rail bridge built at Eel Race Rd. A new ‘road connection’ at Station St over Patterson River is also being considered by the LXRA.
Liberal state opposition spokesman for planning David Davis last week questioned Premier Daniel Andrews’ “special treatment” for voters along the Frankston line and said residents along the Pakenham line will be “rightly furious” that they are getting “the toxic sky rail option”. “Why is Daniel Andrews giving special treatment to residents on the Frankston line and hanging the residents along the Pakenham line out to dry?” he asked. The marginal seats of Frankston, Carrum and Mordialloc were won by Labor MPs Paul Edbrooke, Sonya Kilkenny and Tim Richardson respectively at the 2014 state election. The trio faces voters at the polls again in 2018. Rail under road has already been installed at Bentleigh, McKinnon and Ormond on the Frankston line. Neil Walker
Gurinder Singh who lives in northern India. Frankston Council officers and councillors — with the exception of then mayor James Dooley — supported the RSSB planning application in July last year to build a place of worship, guest dwelling and caretaker’s house on 26.3 hectares of green wedge land between EastLink and Frankston-Dandenong Rd and Boundary Rd near an existing Hindu temple (“Green wedge go ahead for ‘church’”, The Times 25/7/16). Yarra Ranges Council in 2014 rejected a proposal by RSSB to build the place of worship at Chirnside Park. Defenders spokesman Barry Ross said the group welcomed VCAT’s decision to overrule council’s approval of the “massive” planned “church”. “The tribunal accepted our argument that the development does not qualify as a place of worship and was therefore prohibited,” Mr Ross said. “Disappointingly, the tribunal did not agree with our arguments about the development not meeting the Planning Scheme Green Wedge protection measures. Nonetheless, a win is a win.” RSSB Australia can appeal to the Supreme Court of Victoria against the VCAT ruling. Chairman Michael Cooke did not return calls from The Times.
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Frankston Times
27 February 2017
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