NEWS DESK
Rock groyne ‘key’ to $20m Portsea beach plan Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au ROCKS placed in the water while a sandbag seawall was being rebuilt at Portsea front beach may be used as part of a what could be a $20 million attempt to permanently restore the famous beach. The rocks will be used to build a 60-metre groyne at the eastern (Point Franklin) end of the beach. Coupled with dredging offshore, the groyne is designed to deflect waves away from the beach. Extra sand will be added to the beach when the dredging is complete. Cr Bryan Payne said the dredging would be examined as part of a year-long environmental impact study, while the groyne would be a “cost effective solution giving us hope that Portsea will once again have a beach while we continue to explore future options”.
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has been working with staff from the Department of Environment, Lands, Water and Planning to find a long-term solution for the return of the sand at the once-popular beach, which was once 30 metres wide and 600 metres long.
Sand disappeared over the past decade requiring a temporary sandbag wall to be erected to halt further erosion. This wall is being repaired by DELWP to protect the coastline and allow time to further investigate the beach’s restoration. The mayor Cr Sam Hearn, councillors Hugh
Fraser and Bryan Payne, shire CEO John Baker, and David Kramer, from the Futurefish Foundation, are pushing for the groyne plan. Cr Hearn said: “We had the [groyne] concept scientifically modelled by coastal and ocean engineering consultancy Water Technology and the results indicate it would promote an increased accumulation of sand and help restore the beach. “The rock is due to be removed by DELWP after the wall is repaired, so this option seems a cost effective, medium-term solution to reinstate the beach.” Cost estimates for the construction of the rock groyne are “modest” compared to the longer term sand-and-dredging option which may cost up to $20 million, Cr Hearn said. Cr Hugh Fraser said: “The groyne will bring the beach back in the medium term and give us time to work further on a sustainable long term solution.”
Beach box owners dodge fee rise Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au THE owners of beach boxes on Crown land managed by Mornington Peninsula Shire have succeeded in preventing their annual licence fees being increased to $1200. The shire has agreed to charge $990, with a further discount to $700 if the beach box is less than five square metres. In a submission to the council Mornington Peninsula Beach Box Association vice-president Mark A Davis said the proposed $1200 licence fee plus other shire-based fees meant that “in most cases” beach boxes were “higher than those applied to a resident’s residential property”. He said providing a weekly waste service to beach boxes contradicted the licence requirements which banned the storing of waste. Mr Davis also called for a review of the CIV rate which was applied equally to residential properties and beach boxes which he said received “little or no service” from the shire. In arguing for licence fees to be based on value, Mr Davis said beach boxes at Rosebud “could be valued at less than $100,000” which was likely to be much less than that of one at a Portsea. However, council is yet to decide on more far reaching changes to its beach box policy which could ultimately lead to a ban on their ownership by non-peninsula property owners (“‘Locals only’ rule for beach boxes” The News 1/6/20).
Gallery’s anniversary
BEACH box owners have persuaded Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors against a steep increase in their annual licence fees, but the future remains cloudy over other regulations, including restricting ownership to peninsula property owners. Pictures: Keith Platt
Cr Antonella Celi said her motion for council not to proceed with its 2020/21 draft budget plan to increase beach box licence fees was being made as a result of the submission from Mr Davis. Council officers said shire’s estimated income would drop by $121,800 if Mr Davis’s suggestion was adopted. In a comment attached to Cr Celi’s notice of motion at the 23 June online council meeting, the officers said that “from a good governance perspective it is preferred practice to consider or
conduct budget matters … when the budget is presented for adoption rather than via notices of motion”. After the meeting Cr David criticised the cut in beach box fees, saying it had halved the amount of money available to spend on “community submissions”, many of which “would involve jobs for our community”. He told The News that the decision to drop beach box licence fees would lessen opportunities for much needed job-related community projects during
the pandemic emergency. The decision to effectively “give away $195,000” to a non-productive lobby group did not take the crisis situation into consideration “especially its effect on those that cannot afford the luxury of a beach box”. Cr Gill said one councillor had already suggested another community project as worthy of being financed by the shire “but, in reality, we’ve already spent that money on a luxury item for a small group”.
MORNINGTON Peninsula Regional Gallery is set to reopen to celebrate its 50th anniversary with an exhibition that follows the development and growth of its collection, 1 July-22 November. The FIFTY exhibition features about 100 works, including eX de Medici’s Red (Colony) 2000, detail above, Arthur Boyd’s iconic Mt Martha from Rosebud Beach 1938, Lisa Roet’s giant primate finger Orangutan Index 2001-03 and Locust Jones’ epic Geronimo 2011. Founded in 1969 by Alan McCulloch, the-then Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre acquired its first artwork in 1970. Its collection has grown to include more than 1800 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures. An online launch of the MPRG: FIFTY exhibition and 50th publication will be streamed live from 6pm, Thursday 23 July. Afterwards a weekly in-conversation series will be presented 7.30pm, Thursdays. Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery is on Civic Reserve, Dunns Road, Mornington. Open 10am-5pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Details: Visit mprg.mornpen.vic. gov.au or call 5950 1580.
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www.ryehotel.com.au Southern Peninsula News
1 July 2020
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