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| A0020093K Victoria | PP2004A June 2004 www.vicnet.net.au/~phillip | |
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| A0020093K Victoria | PP2004A June 2004 www.vicnet.net.au/~phillip | |
| Cliff Stabilization, Royal Av, Sandringham: Beach Renourishment is Also Needed There |
| Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc. has written
to the Minister for the Environment, and to Bayside City Council, acknowledging
that erosion control works are needed at the foot of the cliff near Royal
Avenue. However PPCC Inc. has indicated that the present official plan,
which would see a 300 metre boulder revetment built along the toe of the
cliff, is not a sufficient response to the need here.
The revetment parallel to the coast would result in there being no longer any beach on that stretch of coast. What is needed is a beach renourishment as well as cliff protection. PPCC Inc. pointed out nearby precedents for combining beach renourishment with cliff protection. One was the popular, wide, renourished beach between Naples Road and Mundy Street, Mentone, which has a boulder revetment along the toe of the cliff, but one that is buried under the added sand, and therefore has ultimate protective value, but no degrading effect like a bare revetment. Another beach renourishment instanced was the one at Quiet Corner, Black
Rock, where the Foreshore Reserve has become so narrow that the distance
between the edge of the clifftop and Beach Road is only a metre or two.
Nevertheless the beach renourishment has provided ample protection, and
is aesthetically very satisfactory.  PPCC Inc. does not normally favour groynes, but it takes the view at the Royal Avenue site, where a single rock groyne already exists, that one or two more, combined with sand replenishment, should provide a continuous beach, albeit with the groynes. The present plan would result in a 300 metre length of nothing but a cold, ugly, boulder wall with the sea lapping against it, and rubbish and vermin in among the boulders. It is recognized that the cost of including sand renourishment will be higher, but that is a legitimate and necessary investment when coastal erosion processes need to be resisted to protect expensive nearby real estate development, as at Sandringham. |
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A 250 seat pizza restaurant, which would occupy 600 square metres of
land in front of Frankston Pier, was recently approved by Frankston City
Council. As if that is not large enough, changes were subsequently made
to the plan to rename the "Information Centre", an additional, originally
minor section of the proposed development, so that it will now become a
"Marketing and Information Centre", and will occupy another 200 square
metres of the foreshore. The 800 square metres used is a house lot size. PPCC Inc. has written to the Minister for the Environment, and to Frankston City Council, giving its view that the belated insinuation of the additional use represents an unacceptable abuse of proper process, greatly reduces the credibility of that process, and represents a significant adverse impact on the narrow strip of foreshore involved. PPCC Inc considers that the expanded proposal is an inappropriate overdevelopment of this site, that it pays no respect to the location, and that there is no justification for its positioning in front of the dunes on a precious narrow strip of foreshore. |
| Seaford Life Saving Club: PPCC Inc. Seeks Conditions for Rebuilding Proposal |
| Friends of Seaford Foreshore Reserve Inc. was
supported by PPCC Inc. in its view that the proposed rebuilding of
the Seaford Life Saving Club's clubhouse should be subject to conditions
to ensure it is no larger or more obtrusive than the building to be replaced.
Both organizations also considered that a new structure should be no closer to the sea than the front of the primary dune, and that there should be no commercial provision of food or drink, although a member-operated kiosk similar to the existing arrangement was considered acceptable. |
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| The Blue Wedges Coalition, a key opponent of the Port Phillip channel deepening proposal, held a well-attended public meeting in the Lower Melbourne Town Hall in March 2004. Speakers that sounded warnings about the proposal included Dr Graham Harris, who was Director of the 1996 CSIRO Environmental Study of Port Phillip, and Mr Geoffrey Goode, the President of PPCC Inc. |
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