SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + PROPERTY GUIDE
Friendliness, to a tea
(Luke Hemer)
Woodend bakers will have their cake and eat it, too, at an upcoming community fundraiser. The local Red Cross branch will host its annual Big Cake Bake on October 16 to raise money for the charity to continue its work in Woodend. Co-ordinator Robyn Grant (pictured) says the event is aimed at bringing people together. “Although our baking will be the star, this is a wonderful way to spend some time with each other in the community, catch up with friends and help the Red Cross with the vast amount of service it provides here and overseas,” Ms Grant says. “We’re serving an afternoon tea of our own delicious baking … [local entertainers] Miranda’s Picnic will be singing for us and we’ll be raffling off the most amazing cake creations from local bakers, almost too beautiful to eat.” The Cake Bake is from 1-3pm at the Woodend Library Community Centre. Tickets are $7.50 for adults and for children under 12 a gold coin will gain entry. Esther Lauaki
‘Sky road can fix havoc’ By Esther Lauaki Traffic congestion in Sunbury has sparked a call for a “sky road” by Liberal MP Bernie Finn. The Bulla-based western metropolitan MP wants a third rail crossing in the township. Currently there are rail crossings at Station Street and the overpass at Macedon Street. In Parliament a fortnight ago, Mr Finn floated the idea of building a third crossing, or “sky road” as he described it, over the railway line near Horne Street, Sunbury. Mr Finn’s call comes weeks after a driver fled
his car when it crashed into a boom gate at the Station Street rail crossing, causing a two-hour gridlock during peak hour. “It’s an issue that is long-running in the township,” he said. “As things stand, there are two ways of getting from one side of the railway line to the other in Sunbury, and from time to time one or both of those avenues are blocked, which, of course, causes no end of havoc in the township.” Sunbury Residents Association president Bernie O’Farrell said the most recent incident highlighted the need for the third rail crossing.
“With two crossings and Sunbury rapidly growing, there only has to be one accident at the bridge [Macedon Street] or at Station Street and Sunbury is in gridlock,” Mr O’Farrell said. He said the lack of a third crossing was also a concern in emergency situations. Mr Finn called on Transport Minister Jacinta Allan to consider a sky road in Sunbury as an alternative to building another level crossing which he said would end up exacerbating existing traffic problems. “It is time we stopped talking about it and actually did something. It’s way past time
that we did something because the people of Sunbury deserve that third crossing of the railway line,” Mr Finn said. The minister’s office was contacted, but did not respond to Star Weekly’s inquiries by deadline. The state government has already started removing 37 dangerous and congested railway level crossings around the state. “This is one of the biggest building programs in Australian history, being delivered well ahead of schedule and creating thousands of jobs across Victoria,” Ms Allan said.