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Wednesday 11 September 2024
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Ceremony to celebrate biodiversity project BUNURONG Land Council’s Josh West attended Sorrento Primary School on Friday (6 September) to perform a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony to officially open their biodiversity project. Last year the school received a Victorian Junior Landcare and Biodiversity Grant. Delivered through Landcare Australia’s Junior Landcare program, the grants provide young people with the opportunity to engage in outdoor, hands-on biodiversity focused projects or learning activities that encourage them to value and actively care for Victoria’s biodiversity and natural environment. Sorrento Primary School used the $4,600 grant for their ‘Sustainable Sorrento Green Corridor and Biodiverse Outdoor Learning Space Project’. Picture: Yanni
Paid beach parking ‘mayhem’ not over yet Brendan Rees brendan@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has left the door open to rolling out paid parking at popular beach foreshores despite significant concerns raised during a recent trial – with one councillor labelling it “total mayhem”. The controversial parking trail, which began last December, has seen visitors charged $6.20 an hour or $19.50 a day to park at Sunnyside Beach, Mt Eliza,
Schnapper Point (near the pier), Mornington and near Flinders pier. Parking is free for peninsula residents who have an e-permit. The trial aimed to “not only generate a steady revenue stream for the council but also ensure that visitors contribute fairly to the maintenance and improvement of these beautiful and heavily frequented areas,” a council report stated. But it quickly became a source of frustration for many beachgoers, who reported confusion over the new system.
This included challenges using the payment technology (particularly for senior residents or people with a disability), poor internet coverage, frustration with the ePermit application, fee and infringement objections, as well as an impact to businesses with some experiencing a drop in customers, and parking restrictions (“Fishers caught in paid parking net” The News 4/12/23). Despite these issues, councillors at their 3 September meeting were to decide whether to make visitor paid parking permanent across all Mornington
Peninsula Shire Port Phillip Bay foreshore areas following a recommendation from the shire’s officers. While Cr Despi O’Connor successfully moved an amended motion asking for a deferral, it meant councillors would not rule out the possibility of implementing paid parking until early next year. She argued paid parking was needed to pay for the maintenance costs of the foreshores which was about $8 million last financial year and that developing a policy was pivotal to “move forward
in a positive step”. “We know that the influx of visitors weighs heavily [and] rate capping and increasing costs have made renewal and installation of new infrastructure out of reach to meet expectations of residents and our visitors,” she said. “I’m determined to see good policy in place to ensure that a system of paid parking is fair to visitors and residents, so that the load is in fact shared between all of us who use this beautiful space.” Continued Page 5