AN old quarry on the eastern side of Arthurs Seat could become the Mornington Peninsula’s newest rubbish tip. Hillview Quarries, owned by R E Ross Trust, is expected to submit an application to the shire council in about four weeks. The landfill plan would see the former Pioneer Quarry, which is east of Arthurs Seat State Park and north of Arthurs Seat Rd, used to dump household waste – 75 per cent from the shire and 25 per cent from outside. Up to 100 trucks a day would enter the bush precinct off Boundary Rd in Dromana. The proposal has…
Month: January 2013
PENINSULA Link freeway opened early last Friday, the fulfillment of a 44-year dream of roadbuilders who marked a freeway reserve in the third edition of Melway in 1969. This was when the state government planned to build a new suburb for 40,000 people on the Moorooduc Plains between Mornington and Somerville to house workers for industrial development at Western Port. The government’s big plans for Western Port did not come to full fruition, but the reserve stayed on the map. The 27-kilometre Peninsula Link connects EastLink tollway and Mornington Peninsula Freeway in Carrum Downs with the Mornington Peninsula Freeway at…
THE state government is being lobbied to improve roads around the Inghams Enterprises chicken processing plant near Baxter. The factory, which rose out of the ashes of a major fire in January 2010, has a staff of 600 processing more than 500,000 birds a week. Following this week’s announcement of the loss of 170 jobs at BlueScope, Inghams is now the largest private employer in the area. General manager Alan Wilson said projected increases in production meant that Inghams would increasingly use the larger B-double trucks that were hard to manoevre around the six-way intersection near Baxter Primary School. However,…
FRANKSTON Hospital will not reopen its short-stay ward of 10 beds until Easter. The move has been forced on the hospital by federal government cuts announced just before Christmas. On 18 December it was stated Victorian hospitals would start closing beds after the federal government cut $107 million from Victoria’s health budget. The cuts to funding came after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reduced population estimates for the current financial year, triggering the cut. On Wednesday, hospital spokesman John Jukes said the ward was meant to open this week after the summer break but would stay closed until Easter and…
Melbourne’s newest freeway Peninsula Link is set to open to traffic over night on Thursday 17 January 2013. The certificate of completion has now been issued by the project’s Independent Reviewer, confirming the 27 kilometre road is safe and ready to carry traffic. Given the logistics of opening 27 kilometres of freeway at the same time, Peninsula Link will open overnight on Thursday 17 January and carry live traffic by the Friday morning peak depending on weather. Victorians will be able to travel the entire distance from Melbourne CBD to the Mornington Peninsula without encountering any traffic lights. The opening…
WORKERS at Bluescope Steel are reeling after the company announced yesterday it would shed 170 jobs from its Hastings plant. The shock announcement comes just 15 months after more than 200 people were made redundant during a “restructure” of the Long Island Point steelworks in 2011. Workers were said to be stunned by Monday morning’s news, after the company had provided assurances in recent weeks when rumours of job cuts began circulating. “I’m still in shock myself,” said long-time BlueScope employee Billy Hassan yesterday afternoon. He said the latest round of redundancies would hit harder than those of 2011. “The…
THE master of the fishing trawler Lady Cheryl, which hit Corsair Rock near Port Phillip Heads last March, was affected by alcohol and fatigue at the time of the incident, says a report by the chief investigator of Transport Safety. The 27-metre trawler sank off Point Nepean at 1.20am on 24 March (pictured), spilling about 30,000 litres of diesel fue. The master and four crew members recorded blood alcohol readings in excess of 0.05 in breach the trawler owner’s zero tolerance policy. All crew were rescued by Port Phillip Sea Pilots. “The master was fatigued and had consumed a significant…
TOOTGAROOK Wetlands activist Cameron Brown of Rosebud West has had a David and Goliath-type win in the state planning tribunal. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has found that a permit issued by Mornington Peninsula Shire for a housing development on the edge of the wetlands is invalid. The win has been hailed by conservationists as a victory for “people power” and another step toward stopping commercial and residential development in the wetlands, large parts of which are privately owned. The VCAT ruling has left Mornington Peninsula Shire severely embarrassed. If the development company is forced to remediate the block…
PENINSULA Link builder Linking Melbourne Authority is remaining tight-lipped about the expected opening date of the 27-kilometre freeway between Carrum Downs and Mt Martha. Rumours about the date have been circulating since before Christmas with one Melbourne radio station broadcasting Australia Day long weekend as a possible opening time. On Sunday, a Melbourne newspapers stated “the freeway does not open for at least another week” when reporting that users of Apple Maps on the iPhone had been wrongly directed to the unfinished road. Apple Maps users have been directed to the freeway for more than a month. On Tuesday, Gemma…
THE future viability of taxi services in Frankston and on the Mornington Peninsula could depend on the state government’s reaction to recommendations in the taxi industry inquiry report. The creation of an outer urban zone and certainty given to wheelchair taxi services provided by Frankston Radio Cabs has been welcomed by manager Kevin Dunn. However, Mr Dunn believes cheaper taxi licences proposed in the Customers First: Service, Safety. Choice report could lead to some operators “going broke”. “I’m not saying that would mean the world coming to an end, but we have a good rapport with the community and believe…
THE Mornington Park precinct was marred by rubbish after the hot weekend and looked like a Third World country, says resident Paul Smith. Mr Smith and former chamber of commerce president Scott Crowe are “citizen cleaners” who pick up rubbish in the precinct during regular morning and evening walks. The pair has been calling for improved rubbish collection for several years. “At 8pm on Sunday I visited the precinct while walking my dog. The whole area was absolutely disgusting, littered with rubbish and picnic waste everywhere,” Mr Smith said. “Rubbish bins where overflowing in Mornington Park, the Mothers Beach picnic…
HASTINGS Rotary Club has stepped in to save the weekly market in High St. Stallholders feared the market would close following the collapse of Western Port Lions Club, which had run it for some years. The club closed late last year due to lack of members (‘Limited Lions call it a day’, The News, 18/12/12), and the market permit issued by Mornington Peninsula Shire ran out on Tuesday 9 January. Signatures were quickly being added to a “save the market” petition when the Rotary club offered to take over its management. “There were all sorts of rumours and conspiracy theories…
ROADWORKS to repair a landslide on the Esplanade between Mt Martha and Safety Beach are unlikely to be finished until February. VicRoads originally announced the road would reopen in time for Christmas, but now says the contractor “struck rock” leading to a “minor change in the scope of work”. The landslide occurred in July last year, but repairs were delayed for some months because the affected area required preparation of a Cultural Heritage Management Plan to protect Aboriginal artefacts. Two other landslides on the Esplanade in recent years were fixed without the need for a CHMP, despite the entire coast…
SECURITY cameras outside a shop in High St, Hastings, caught this dramatic image of the aftermath of a serious assault in Hastings. The victim, on the right, can be seen leaving a trail of blood on the footpath as he moves up the street with a friend after being glassed in King St about 12.30am on Saturday. Hastings police said the man, aged in his 20s and a resident of the Western Port area, sustained “extreme injuries” to his face and eye area and was taken to Frankston Hospital where he underwent emergency microsurgery. Detective Leading Senior Constable Darren Sherren…