MAYOR Cr Anthony Marsh has fully supported community calls to undertake a “like-for-like” rebuild of a popular Mt Martha boardwalk two years after a section was closed following damaging storms.
The 3.5km Balcombe Creek Estuary boardwalk was inundated by floods in November 2022 during heavy rainfall causing significant damage to one section which had been unrepaired and fenced off near Nepean Hwy and Uralla Rd in Mt Martha.
Delays to fixing the boardwalk have left the community disappointed and frustrated including the Rotary Club of Mount Martha whose members originally built the boardwalk in the 1990s before it was handed over to the Mornington Peninsula Shire to manage (Calls for boardwalk fix as shire proposes options, The News 12/11/24).
But in a long-awaited announcement, the shire in November last year, proposed three options to rebuild the damaged boardwalk which attracted 647 responses to a community survey. The first option proposes to rebuild the boardwalk in its existing location but widening it from 1.5 metres to 2.5 metres while the second option would see it rebuilt partially in its original location with fewer “environmental, cultural heritage and financial impacts than option one”. The final option proposes to run the path through the pastureland alongside The Briars’ entry road providing the “least impact “on the natural environment and cultural heritage.
A community pulse forum organised by Mt Martha locals was held at the Mt Martha Life Saving Club on 26 February which saw 100 per cent of the 30-40 attendees voicing their strong desire to see the boardwalk returned to its original design. Marsh, who was present at the meeting, told The News he “fully supported” residents’ call of returning the damaged boardwalk back to its former glory under the first option, and understood concerns that there was no need to widen the path as the “project will be delayed significantly” and it would be more costly as it would trigger vegetation removal and a cultural heritage management plan.
“Ultimately we’re there to serve the people,” Marsh said after hearing from the community. “One of the comments I heard is wheelchairs and prams can pass each other but for the other x-kilometres, you don’t have that option, so why would you join it to something that’s wider?” he said. “The mood of the room was that it seemed a little bit silly if we’re going to try to make things more accessible.”
Marsh said while he had no knowledge of what the council would ultimately recommend, he was confident he “could convince councillors that doing it more cost effectively and quickly is a good thing”, noting his view had always been a “like-for-like” rebuild and “getting back what we had as quickly as possible”.
The issue is due to be discussed at a council briefing in March, after which it will go to a formal council meeting likely in April. Marsh said 55 per cent of respondents to the survey were in favour of option one, while 30 per cent supported option two and 15 per cent for option three.
Rotary Club of Mount Martha president Anne Shaw said, “now’s the time for the community to speak up and say we just want it replaced like-for-like”. “The consensus of the meeting was that there should be an option four and that is to reinstate the boardwalk in its current location at its current width,” she told The News, warning widening the path would see a “huge escalation in price”. “The other options aren’t boardwalks, they’re granite parts. It’s not going to create that same sense of place and being in that really special environment.”
First published in the Mornington News – 18 March 2025
