NEWS DESK Tavern plan for Main St Continued from Page 1 “It is essential that the Mornington community has an opportunity to address their elected councillors directly before a final decision is taken,” Mr Morris said. “I urge councillors to call in the application and to deal with it at a public meeting of the council.” Cr Bev Colomb said she too wanted councillors to decide the issue. “If [the venue] has an impact on the social activities of the whole community then we should have a good look at it,” she said, adding that the shire had previously called in other applications that “impact on the community”. She said she would prefer to wait to hear the views of shire planners and the police, who would normally assess applications from venues selling liquor. “At the moment it is with the planners so they may not approve it,” she said. “Also, the thing about calling in proposals such as this is that we get to consider all aspects, such as the latenight culture and the amenity ramifications for residents, but we have to be fair to the applicant.”
Missing timbers MERBAU decking timber valued at $2000 has “disappeared from the Mornington Yacht Club yard”, a snippet in the club’s newsletter reports. “The timber was left in the secure yard area and would have needed a truck to take it away,” it said. If anyone has any information they should call the club on 5975 7001.
Seeing and caring: Red Hill Consolidated School’s Kelsey, Ruby and Brianna use a net to check on life in the water at Narambi Reserve, above, while heavy lifting equipment, left, is needed to clear the gross pollution trap. Mornington. Pictures: Gary Sissons
Young marine leaders tackle bay pollution ABOUT 50 primary school “marine ambassadors” last week had a close look at trapped pollutants at Narambi Reserve, Mornington. The experience was part of the Dolphin Research Institute’s ‘i sea, i care’ school ambassador program, a partnership with Mornington Peninsula Shire. Pupils saw and smelt rotting waste being emptied from a gross pollution trap which stops stormwater pollutants washed from streets reaching Port Phillip. Emptying the trap came just weeks
after a significant algal bloom was seen in Mornington harbour. The ambassadors, trained as peer educators, will go back to their schools and share their experiences. Their goal is to reduce pollutants entering drains and, ultimately, threatening our marine treasures. Cleaning the pollution traps is a massive financial cost to state and local government – but poses a bigger cost to the environment if they weren’t there. “The institute is concerned about the link between water quality in the
bay and the health of our dolphins,” DRI executive director Jeff Weir said. “If it’s not safe for us to swim in our bay after rain, then it’s also not safe for our dolphins, either. We need to do much better.” The institute is working on a dolphin health study funded by the federal government. Mr Weir said the Narambi Reserve’s wetlands are a “world-class” example of how to treat stormwater pollution. Litter traps capture the larger pollution and the ponds let sediment settle while plants absorb many of the
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soluble pollutants. “In moderate rains the water will be quite clean by the time it leaves this site to flow into Port Phillip down Tanti Creek,” Mr Weir said. “In big storms it overflows and everything goes to the bay. “Most drains don’t have these systems and empty directly into the creeks and rivers that flow to our bays. “Treatment systems help, when they are present, but the best solution is to stop things getting into drains in the first place.”
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Mornington News 30 August 2016
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