Somerville Highway Patrol members were left severely disappointed when a driver blew almost five times the legal alcohol limit after colliding with another vehicle in Dromana last night. To make matters worse two children under 10 were passengers in the alleged offending vehicle. Emergency services were called to reports a Mitsubishi Wagon had failed to navigate a turn onto Boundary Road and crashed into an oncoming vehicle about 5.30pm. The driver of the Mitsubishi, a 41-year-old Dromana woman tested positive for alcohol at the scene and subsequently returned an evidentiary breath test reading of 0.234. Fortunately, the collision resulted in…
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POLICE are appealing for witnesses or dashcam footage following a hit run collision in Dromana on Monday 24 June.Investigators have been told the victim’s vehicle was travelling south in the right-hand lane of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway about 10pm, when an unknown vehicle also travelling south collided with the rear of the victim’s car, causing significant damage. The unknown vehicle failed to stop at the scene.Anyone with information or dashcam footage is urged to contact Rosebud police on 5986 0444, reference: T20240016206. First published in the Mornington News – 2 July 2024
AROUND 150 community members packed a public meeting in Dromana on Thursday (20 June) to hear the latest on the proposed redevelopment of the BP in Safety Beach into a 24‐hour fast food/petrol complex. Much of the concerns centred on potential waste from the restaurant, which will be just metres from the foreshore, and the dangers of increased traffic and congestion.Despite the large turnout, which included Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors Antonella Celi and mayor Simon Brooks, it’s believed notices advising residents of the night meeting were not received by many households until the day of the meeting. Once underway, the…
A STORM is brewing in Safety Beach and Dromana, and it’s got nothing to do with the weather.Renewed concern that a McDonalds fast food restaurant could take up residence in the redeveloped Dromana BP complex in Marine Drive has reignited a debate about whether the area needs more fast food franchises. A planning application is now before the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council for the development of a petrol station/fast food complex on a corner site bordering Safety Beach and Dromana, despite a similar application being knocked back at the Victoria Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) in 2021.The council, which will…
PUBLIC comment is being sought on the future of Dromana, with the release of a draft plan. Feedback will provide input on the use and development of the Dromana and Arthurs Seat escarpment area and Parkdale/Hillview Community Reserve, to help with the management and masterplans, which are concurrently being prepared.The Mornington Peninsula Shire Council is looking for comment until Friday 21 June on the proposed overall vision for the greater Dromana area, as well as to inform the community about current, future and advocacy initiatives being for the area. Greater Dromana takes in the coast at the base of Arthurs…
THE controversial Dromana quarry tip plan is dead. Quarry owners R E Ross Trust will officially announce on Tuesday it will not appeal the Environment Protection Authority’s refusal to grant a permit, which was handed down last month. The decision brings to an end one of the most controversial and hated proposals on the southern peninsula for many years. A government source told The News that Ross Trust chairman Ian Vaughan would announce the decision on Tuesday night at a meeting of Peninsula Waste Management’s community reference group. Ross Trust owns PWM as well as Hillview Quarries in Dromana. The…
THE Environment Protection Authority has knocked back an application for a rubbish tip, or landfill, in the old Pioneer quarry on the Arthurs Seat escarpment at Dromana. It was announced on Friday morning with the EPA saying the proposal did not comply with “threshold issues around groundwater, construction design and management”. The decision is a blow to tip proponent Peninsula Waste Management and its owner R E Ross Trust as well as Mornington Peninsula Region Waste Management Group of which Mornington Peninsula Shire is the sole member. The waste group had earmarked the quarry as a potential tip site in…
AN overzealous ranger who removed “anti-tip” signs from roadsides in Arthurs Seat, Red Hill and Dromana last Saturday has forced Mornington Peninsula Shire to issue a public apology. The shire posted a statement on its website on Sunday after receiving complaints from Peninsula Preservation Group members and other anti-tip sign owners. Shire officers delivered the signs to a PPG member’s home on Sunday. The statement said rangers would return a number of “no tip” protest signs “that were mistakenly impounded on Saturday”. Claire Smith, the shire’s manager of environment protection and community safety, said signs had been removed from “the…
SIGNS of the times are popping up around the southern peninsula as the anti-tip campaign gains momentum. Peninsula Preservation Group – the lead objector to the plan to put a rubbish tip, or landfill, in the old Pioneer quarry at Dromana – has distributed more than 300 anti-tip signs to members and supporters as well as bumper stickers. The signs have been appearing on freeway bridges, in people’s front yards and on fences, beside roads and, cheekily, next to Hillview Quarries’ entrance on Boundary Rd in Dromana (pictured). Hillview Quarries and tip proponent Peninsula Waste Management are owned by the…
OPPOSITION to the proposed rubbish tip in an old quarry on Arthurs Seat is mounting with more than 500 people packing Dromana Hall last Saturday for the first meeting of Peninsula Preservation Group. It was arguably the largest protest meeting on the southern peninsula since the anti-dredging rally on Rosebud foreshore in February 2008. People who could not get into the hall stood outside, watching and listening through open windows. Tip proponent Peninsula Waste Management, owned by R E Ross Trust, has asked the Environment Protection Authority to approve its plan. It also needs the OK from Mornington Peninsula Shire.…
THE investigation of a shire councillor over alleged conflict of interest remains unresolved. Cr Graham Pittock appeared in Dromana Magistrates’ Court last Thursday to answer two charges brought by the Local Government Inspectorate that he had breached the Local Government Act. The inspectorate is the local council watchdog. It is alleged Cr Pittock had a conflict of interest when he voted on the multi-million dollar Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre (SPA), proposed to be built on the Rosebud foreshore. The charges allege the Seawinds Ward councillor voted at council meetings on 12 March last year and 12 June, a two-part meeting…
THE Arthurs Seat chairlift was removed on Wednesday last week and now lies in a Dromana storage yard awaiting transport to Adelaide. Its removal brings to an end a long and sometimes bitter battle between Richard Hudson, who has owned the chairlift for more than 30 years, and the state government’s WorkSafe Authority and Parks Victoria. The chairlift troubles started on 3 January 2003 when one of eight pylons collapsed, sending about a dozen people to hospital and stranding many of the 50 people aboard, some for up to six hours. A WorkSafe investigation found the collapse was caused by…
DROMANA area councillor Graham Pittock has played a significant role in the shire council of the past four years. He has been the leader of a group of five “progressive” councillors who have attempted to make the council more open, transparent and responsive to community concerns as well as encourage the shire to engage with its municipal neighbours. During his term as mayor last year, he brought the shire into the South East Metro Group, joining Frankston, Kingston, Casey, Cardinia and Bass Coast councils. The group has been burrowing away behind the scenes, lobbying the state government on common issues…