• Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Read Our Newspapers Online
    • Read the Latest Western Port News
    • Read the Latest Mornington News
    • Read the Latest Southern Peninsula News
    • Read the Latest Frankston Times
    • Read the Latest Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Click here to read
  • Click here to read
  • Battery given go ahead for grid connection
  • A big leap to overseas event
  • Big Al wows ’em, Strikers uproar
  • Felicia eyes off further black type
  • Edithvale-Aspendale get on the board, Stonecats impress
  • Alteration of subway plans for Frankston
Facebook Twitter
MPNEWSMPNEWS
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
MPNEWSMPNEWS
Home»Latest News»Attractions could be fatal
Latest News

Attractions could be fatal

By Keith PlattApril 27, 2020Updated:April 28, 2020No Comments4 Mins Read
BEACH boxes containing asbestos have been identified along Dromana foreshore and several beaches controlled by Mornington Peninsula Shire, above. The ones at right, pictured in the 1950s, have had asbestos removed.
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email
BEACH boxes containing asbestos have been identified along Dromana foreshore and several beaches controlled by Mornington Peninsula Shire, above. The ones below, pictured in the 1950s, have had asbestos removed.

AN unknown number of the 1300 colourful beach boxes regarded as attractions on Mornington Peninsula beaches and foreshores could be death traps.

Potentially deadly amounts of asbestos has been found in about 120 of the beach boxes on beaches controlled by Mornington Peninsula Shire and Dromana foreshore committee, but details of another 500 boxes is un-known.

The owners of the Dromana beach boxes have been asked to remove asbestos from their buildings but no such request has been issued by the shire.

The mayor Cr Sam Hearn said none of the asbestos in 89 of the 824 beach boxes on shire-controlled beaches had been put in the “immediate elevated risk level category”.

The shire is already under fire from beach box owners over a proposed new set of rules and the High Court is expected to soon hand down its decision over a challenge by the Mornington Peninsula Beach Box Association to annual fees charged by the shire.

The politically influential and seemingly cashed up association describes the peninsula’s beach boxes as a “colourful cluster of historical icons” that “grouped together … assist social harmony and create a sense of community”.

John Steele, a Dromana Foreshore Committee member, said the use by date recommended by asbestos products’ manufacturer James Hardie Industries expired years ago.

He said “salt, sand and wind” made asbestos on beach boxes “friable and brittle”, creating a fine dust that was almost impossible to see in sand or in-side beach boxes.

Tests had shown the presence of asbestos dust “and you can imagine young children and babies crawling around in it when their parents shelter in their beach box if it’s windy or raining”.

Mr Steele, who suffers from asbestos-related illnesses, said he removed asbestos from his family’s beach box 30 years ago.

While “everyone knows about it”, foreshore committees were unable to force asbestos removal.

“Dromana [with 30 sheds out of 240 having asbestos] is pretty good, but sheds on lots of other foreshores are hidden,” Mr Steele said.

“James Hardie gave ‘super six’ asbestos cladding and roofing a life span of 25 years. As the last sheets were used in the mid-1980s, they are now well past 25 years. Some must be 50 years beyond this guideline.”

Mr Steele said swab tests taken from sheds under the roofs on the foreshore “have shown alarming levels of fibres”.

“The health risks are very real for owners, visitors and staff that work on the foreshore. The risks on the foreshore are far greater than similar constructions away from the foreshore.”

Mr Steele warned that claims for compensation against foreshore commit-tees and the shire would be easy to prove.

“The crunch time will come. You can’t have an unsafe workplace and we all know it [asbestos] is there.”

New regulations proposed for beach boxes under the shire’s control include a requirement for licence holders to have $20 million public liability insurance. Licence holders must also either own property or live in the shire.

Cr David Gill said beach boxes were sited on leased public land and should not be a profit-making venture.

He said asbestos in beach boxes was “a huge issue” and the shire “should be leading on this as we have the most in Victoria here on the peninsula”.

The shire’s proposed regulations, if adopted after a six-week public comment time, will ban the construction of any more beach boxes as well as limiting licence holders to having one beach box and forcing disconnection of utilities: water, power or gas (“Beach box owners face tougher rules” The News 6/4/20).

“The asbestos issue is not resolved, many still have asbestos and much of it has simply been buried it in the sand,” Cr Gill said.

“The elements at the foreshore make it a folly to claim that asbestos is in any way safe.”

Cr Gill said the “present idea” was to bring the new leasing regulations in over five years and give “locals more opportunity to have the privilege of using a beach shed on public land”.

He said 56 per cent of beach boxes had been sold at some stage “or kept in the hands of people who do not live on the peninsula”.

“The underlying unspoken objection will be the perceived loss of investment profit which will occur when the market restrictions are known,” he said.

“This selling of a licence over public land for individual profit should be the real subject of any debate.”

First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 28 April 2020

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

Liberals keep Flinders but lose government

May 23, 2022

One-way gates the way out for kangaroos

May 23, 2022

Affordable housing flyer ‘misleading’

May 23, 2022

Shire accused of political bias

May 23, 2022
Add A Comment

Comments are closed.

Weather
May 26, 2022 - Thu
Mornington, Australia
15°C
overcast clouds
overcast clouds
1 m/s, N
74%
761.31 mmHg
thu05/26 fri05/27 sat05/28 sun05/29 mon05/30
light rain
14/14°C
light rain
13/13°C
light rain
13/12°C
light rain
13/12°C
moderate rain
10/9°C
Peninsula Essence Magazine

Click here to read

May 26, 2022
Peninsula Kids Magazine

Click here to read

May 26, 2022
Council Watch

Shire’s carbon neutral backflip

May 23, 2022

Shire offers $500,000 to performing arts

May 2, 2022
Elections 2022

Peta Murphy wins second term in Dunkley

May 23, 2022

Shire accused of being off track with pledges

May 17, 2022

Security takes precedence

May 17, 2022
Interview

Volunteers track koalas for science

May 2, 2022
Property of the Week

278 Dundas Street, Rye

May 11, 2022
100 Years Ago This Week

Alteration of subway plans for Frankston

May 23, 2022
Contact
Street: 63 Watt Road, Mornington, 3931
Mailing: PO Box 588, Hastings, 3915
Menu
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
About

Established in 2006, Mornington Peninsula News Group (MPNG) is a locally owned and operated, independent media company.

MPNG publishes five weekly community newspapers: the Western Port News, Mornington News, Southern Peninsula News, Frankston Times and Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News.

MPNG also publishes two glossy magazines: Peninsula Essence and Peninsula Kids.

Facebook Twitter
© 2022 Mornington Peninsula News Group.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.