NEWS DESK
Golf course future to the fore FUTURE “development opportunities” of land now occupied by Mount Martha Public Golf Course will be reviewed by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. The shire has hired consultants @leisure Planners and WellPlayed to “develop a vision and long term plan” for the golf course. Described by the shire as an “exciting project”, the shire is inviting public comment until 5pm Wednesday 11 November. With easing of COVID-19 PERCY the peacock, pictured, is a well-known sight in Mount Eliza, with neighbours near his haunts around Kunyung Road looking forward to his visits. Liz Sheffield said her family had known him since her grandparents moved to Mount Eliza in 1987. “He’s very well known to all the locals,” she said. “He used to visit different households for his meals. One for his main meal of meat and the others for dessert, which was always his favourite – muscatel grapes.” Natalie Dee said Percy liked to admire his splendid beauty in the window. “When I first moved to Mount Eliza years ago I was home alone and he was tapping on the window beside my front door. You can imagine my surprise when I answered the door.”
restrictions the 18-hole course off Forest Drive reopened for golfing on 21 October. “We will be reviewing all aspects of the site, including its role as a significant open space for the peninsula and undertaking a detailed review of the golf course operations, use, management, performance and role in providing for golf in the shire,” a shire news release stated last week. It said golfers, residents, clubs, community groups and other
The tale of a colourful character
stakeholders would be consulted to find out what was valued about open space and the golf course; how it could be improved; issues, challenges and opportunities that a strategic plan should address; and, what is your vision for this site? The shire will prepare a “state of play” report about the management and performance of the land “as a golf course and as a regional open space”. An “issues and options” paper would assess “development oppor-
tunities and desirable directions”. As well as planning for sporting and recreational activities the consultants hired by the shire also do “open space planning for new residential development and structure plans”. Submissions about the future of the golf course close 5pm Wednesday 11 November and can be made online at mornpen.vic.gov.au/ golfcoursereview or for a form call 1300 850 600. Keith Platt
Town’s ‘best trees’ axed A MORNINGTON woman has complained to Mornington Peninsula Shire Council over the felling of five gum trees that created “a lovely park-like vista”. However, the shire says the trees were “close to death” and will be replaced. Lynette Catlin said the five gums at the corner of Barkly Street and Waterloo Place were “more attractive than any others in all of Mornington”. “It was a lovely park-like vista. They were not tall, straggly ones with messy bark, like most of the ones throughout the other streets, but low growing, slightly twisted with the most beautiful coloured trunks and weeping type foliage,” Ms Caitlin stated in a letter to the shire. “I’m not sure what variety they were, maybe mallee gums or similar to snow gums. On a hot day it was such a pleasure to drive by and smell the fragrance.” To her “horror” the trees had been “wantonly destroyed, just stumps left in the ground”. “I walked through the now-empty space mourning the loss of the magnificent specimens and their beauty. I am not some mad greenie or anything, I am just an ordinary elderly woman,” Ms Caitlin said. “The nature strip there is around 12 metres wide. The trees were towards the back of the strip, so there was no obstruction to the road visibility, there are no overhead power lines, and they were not diseased. I have taken photos of the stumps; they were very sound, healthy trees.” The shire’s interim director of place Jessica Wingad disagreed. “The trees had recently been inspected and found to be in very poor health and close to death,” she told The News. “We have now removed the trees and will replant this area so it can continue to contribute to the local amenity of Mornington.” Ms Catlin said she regretted photographing the trees while they were alive. “I guess I thought they would be there forever.” She said. cutting down the trees was “an act of criminal vandalism”. Stephen Taylor
Mornington News
3 November 2020
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