PROPOSED boundary amendments to the state electoral district of Frankston could seriously imperil Geoff Shaw’s re-election prospects, despite the former Liberal and now independent MP welcoming the potential changes. The Frankston MP applauded the Victorian Electoral Boundaries Commission announcement last week proposing Frankston North be included in his electorate, despite the area being a Labor stronghold and his own seat being highly marginal. The EBC is calling for public suggestions and objections to its proposed redivision of electoral boundaries, which will affect the vast majority of electorates in Victoria. But Mr Shaw said he was more than happy with the…
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TEN-storey towers 32 metres high could be built on the beach side of Nepean Highway under the proposed Frankston structure plan. The draft plan was released for public comment on Monday night. The plan will guide development over the next 20 years and replaces the 2005 TAFE to Bay structure plan. The proposal is already drawing fire with two councillors, James Dooley and Glenn Aitken, criticising on ABC television news. Cr Aitken told the ABC the structure plan “will turn Frankston into a place of mediocrity into the future”. Cr Dooley said it included zones for high-density housing that could…
SHIRE councillors have removed the Rosebud foreshore site as the preferred location for the Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre (SPA). The move at Tuesday night’s council meeting reverses a decision made in March 2012. It was led by the shire’s youngest councillor, Andrew Dixon, who was elected to one of three seats in Briars Ward last October. The decision puts the inland site at Wannaeue Place (Rosebud Central shopping centre) on an equal footing with the foreshore site. Councillors will consider the two sites at a workshop on 23 July before again debating the long-running project at a subsequent council meeting.…
THE cost of Frankston’s aquatic centre has risen $3.35 million from $46.35 to $49.7 million. Frankston Council chief executive Dennis Hovenden said the increase came when the council approved the final design and awarded the tender for its construction to builder ADCO. “One of the final design decisions by the council was widening of the main pool hall concourse, which increased the size of the building by about 1200 square metres,” he said. Australian construction company ADCO recently built the Greensborough Regional Aquatic and Leisure Centre and is completing the Hawthorn Aquatic and Leisure Centre. On Tuesday, the council announced…
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…
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…
FRANKSTON Council is about to again embark on a search for investors in the $300 million marina earmarked for development between Olivers Hill and Daveys Bay. Impetus for reviving the search abandoned in 2010 follows advice from council’s investment attraction facilitator Jason Sharp that Tourism Victoria’s offer to help finance the re-tendering the project runs out at the end of the 2012-13 financial year. Mr Sharp’s report on this week’s council agenda says that despite abandoning the tender process in 2010, council officers continued working to gain extra time for the marina from Planning Minister Matthew Guy. “The Cultural Heritage…
MEMBERS of two influential community groups say fast-tracking the move by South East Water to Frankston could add to the woes of Frankston MP Geoff Shaw. They are targeting Mr Shaw in their 11th hour bid to have the water authority’s headquarters sited away from Kananook Creek and the foreshore. “We agree that Frankston is the ideal location for South East Water HQ, but why was it that the state government demanded this key waterfront site and this site only?” former Kananook Creek Association president Rob Thurley has told The News. “Why were better located, less sensitive sites never considered…
THE new Frankston Council was confronted by a thorny problem at its first meeting in Thursday night – how to save one of the city’s iconic trees. A problem solved 10 years ago has come back to haunt the council with owners of 138 and 138A Cranbourne Rd, Frankston, wanting to remove the 120-year-old Moreton Bay fig tree growing on common property between two homes. The tree was the centre of attention in 2002 when the previous owner of the property wanted to cut it down to build two homes. A public outcry saw the council buy the property and…
RECONSTRUCTION of the retaining wall on Nepean Highway near Olivers Hill in Frankston will take three and a half months. Work started on the $1.4 million wall in February, but it collapsed on Thursday 19 April before it could be finished. Dramatic pictures of the wall collapsing were taken by a man walking his dog. The first wall was built of rocks in steel cages and backfilled with sand. The second attempt is being constructed using steel posts hammered into the ground, horizontal wooden planks and backfilled with lighter material. The lighter material would “reduce the load imposed on it”,…
FRANKSTON MP Geoff Shaw is likely to keep his seat despite allegations of rorting the use of his parliamentary vehicle. Mr Shaw will be hoping his offer to repay any costs involving the commercial use of the vehicle and the fairly mild results of an Ombudsman’s report will be enough to allow him to keep his job. The loss of Mr Shaw’s seat would force a byelection that could threaten the future of the state government, which holds power with a one-seat majority. Liberal Party insiders have told The News that Mr Shaw would have been forced out by his…
TULLI the wombat was rescued from his dead mother’s pouch more than a year ago and last weekend was taken back to the bush as a 20kg adult. Tulli and her “sheltermate” Wilma are among the animals rescued each year and taken to Animalia Wildlife Shelter in Frankston. The wombats have been taken to a bush property near Nar Nar Goon and put into a small enclosure prior to being released in a couple of weeks after they have finished building a burrow and getting used to the smells and sounds of their new home range. They are being fed…
CHRISTINE Richards pulled out of the Frankston Council election last Wednesday, surprising even her closest supporters. Her decision, technically a “retirement” according to the Victorian Electoral Commission, means the council will have at least two new faces after the 27 October election with Kris Bolam not nominating in North-West Ward and heading off into the sunset to work as a Protective Services Officer on train stations. Cr Richards was elected to South-West Ward in 2008 and was elected mayor by her colleagues a year later. On Wednesday, Cr Richards told VEC returning officer Ian Smyth of her decision. She had…
A 22-year-old Frankston man has been charged with the assault of Mical Jones in Mornington last month. Kyle Pollard appeared in Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday charged with intention to cause serious injury and multiple assault-related charges after he was apprehended at his home around 6am on Tuesday. He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody to appear in Melbourne Magistrate’s court on Monday. Detective Senior Constable Rohan Brock of Mornington crime investigation unit said police were still investigating a second person believed to be involved in the assault in Empire Street Mall about 4am on Sunday…
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…
SOUTH East Water is paying $4 million for the site of its new Frankston headquarters. The land facing Kananook Creek stretches from Beach St in the north to Playne St and is owned by Frankston Council. A South East Water spokesperson said the price was market value and that moving to a new building there would “save us and our customers at least $20 million over the next 20 years”. Council has agreed to ignore its own building height regulations to speed up approval for the building on land now used for a car park. A South East Water sewage…