MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire will spend $297,000 on safety upgrades on the Beleura Cliff Path in Mornington, after a narrow vote saw a legal advice condition dropped that could have stalled work further. The long-awaited decision was made at the council’s 20 May meeting with the funding being locked in the council’s 2025-26 budget capital works program.
The 102-year-old walking route, which hugs the cliffs between Mills Beach and Caraar Creek Lane overlooking Port Phillip Bay, was closed in October 2022 due to landslips creating a safety risk to walkers. But last December the council finally reopened the track partially along the top section where it meets a lookout point (Path set for partial reopening after two-year closure, The News 26/11/24).
The track’s closure has been a repeated source of frustration among locals who have called on the shire to fix the community asset, with others expressing fury over the shire wasting money on installing CCTV to monitor people entering the then fenced-off path.
Councillors at their meeting decided to not only commit to the funding but also drop a condition that the shire seeks independent legal advice regarding safety in the event of a future landslip – but scrapping the condition was only narrowly supported in a 6-5 vote.
However, mayor Cr Anthony Marsh, a strong supporter of getting the project off the ground, said while independent legal advice would be dropped, he stressed that due diligence remained essential. “We will clearly not do anything that is illegal or dangerous, and we already get and have had advice, but we don’t need to keep spending money on more advice,” he told The News. “Council will always ensure its projects and services comply with the law and obviously mitigate any unreasonable liability.”
Deputy mayor Cr Paul Pingiaro, also a staunch advocate of opening the path since he ran for council last November, said the community had “waited long enough”. “I think there’s been enough technical support, and I think that there’s been enough budget support through engagement with our community,” he said.
“They want it open; it is open, people are using it. It is up to us now to ensure safety, to make sure that the right things are put into place and go about this the right way. “Let’s not make it cost more and let’s revisit a whole heap of these (capital works program items) at the half year budget because if we do things right now, everyone wins in the future.”
However, Cr Max Patton said while he supported the reinstatement of the path, he was against proceeding without seeking independent legal advice first. “At the moment I’m not totally satisfied that the legal and financial risk has been resolved with the proposed option,” he said. “I’m not proposing to remove the funding; I just want to make sure that we remove any of our liability or as much as we can if the landslip or an injury is likely to occur because the proposed solution that has been put up, it meets the risk to life element, but it doesn’t meet the risk to the path element.”
Patton asked council officers whether significant rainfall following the completion of rectification works could result in the path being closed again, to which an officer responded, “Essentially, yes, there could be a risk that the works are done and then would need rework”. Patton also asked about who would make the decisions about closing and reopening the path “and do we carry the liability upon reopening the path?” with the officers responding, “That would need to be subject to further discussion and report”.
Cr Kate Roper also shared Patton’s sentiment, saying, “I think it’s a sensible way to move forward with independent legal advice”. “We can spend this money and then a few weeks later there’s another slip,” she said. “I know that people are already using it now; they’re not supposed to be … and they’re taking that risk.”
Peter Nicholson, a volunteer with the Friends of Beleura Cliff Path said the announcement was a relief. “It’s fantastic to finally see some action,” he said, noting Pingiaro, whose Tanti Ward includes the path, had “worked very hard on this”, alongside the friend’s group. However, Nicholson said it had ultimately been ten years of lobbying, meetings, and raising concerns of the drainage system without success with the shire.
“It’s a whole lot of money being spent which could’ve been avoided,” he said, but he hoped going forward the path would remain a beautiful part of the coastline and a key connection with the community, with volunteers continuing their revegetation efforts.
First published in the Mornington News – 27 May 2025
