Southern Peninsula
Features inside: SPRING HOME & GARDEN PAGE 40 HEALTHY LIVING PAGES 39 – 41 FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT PAGES 42 – 44
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On track searching for artefacts HERITAGE archaeologist Mark Dugay-Grist checked for Aboriginal artefacts at sites beside Portsea’s Back Beach Rd last week. The archaeological digs were the first step in the construction of a 1.6-kilometre long footpath between Point Nepean Rd and the start of the car park at the back beach. The $360,000 path will make it safer for pedestrians, says Nepean Ward councillor Tim Rodgers. “Back Beach Rd has always been a dangerous road for walkers, especially during the summer,� he said. Mornington Peninsula Shire received a petition from residents calling for the footpath in February and allocated the money in the 2011-12 budget. The petitioners asked the council to take action to provide safe access for pedestrians using the road between Point Nepean Rd and the national park and Portsea Surf Life Saving Club. Cr Rodgers said the path would not be ready for summer but would likely be completed by mid-year at the latest. The residents also asked for the speed limit to be cut from 60 to 50km/h. Cr Rodgers said this would take some time as VicRoads would have to approve the lower speed. Continued Page 9
The searchers: Adam Edwards Magennis, left, Phaedra Murray and Mark Dugay-Grist hunt for Aboriginal artefacts at Portsea.
Plans split to aid pool By Mike Hast THE shire council has split its two long-term plans for Rosebud, fasttracking its foreshore management plan and shelving the Rosebud Activity Centre Structure Plan. Resident lobby groups are accusing the shire of splitting the plans to fasttrack the foreshore aquatic centre. The plans had been processed together for more than five years until late last month. In August, Environment Minister Ryan Smith invited the shire to com-
plete and submit its Rosebud Foreshore Reserve Coastal Management Plan, which earmarked a site for the pool next to Rosebud Memorial Hall. The invitation was the first sign for more than five years the government would allow a pool on the shire’s preferred foreshore site. Since 2006, the shire had repeatedly been told by the Department of Sustainability and Environment – Victoria’s foreshore manager – a pool on the foreshore would not be approved. DSE guidelines state buildings on
Port Phillip foreshore must be coastal dependent, for example, a life saving club or yacht club. Intense lobbying this year by Nepean MP Martin Dixon, shire CEO Michael Kennedy and councillors Graham Pittock and David Gibb plus a change of policy – which appears to have been forced on DSE by the new state government – makes a foreshore pool more likely than ever. Five lobby groups have written letters of protest to Dr Kennedy, Cr Pittock and the state government, saying
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Concerned Rosebud Foreshore Groups – claim the community will have no chance to object to important elements of the foreshore management plan. The main objection by conservationists has always been that the site of the proposed Rosebud pool is vulnerable to sea level rise and increased storm surges. All governments in Australia now accept there will be a sea level rise of 80cm by the end of the century. A secondary objection is the loss of vegetation and precious foreshore land.
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