Ferry Road fixes still 2 years away
If the agenda papers for the Kingborough Council meeting on Monday 28 June are anything to go by then it will be at least 2 years before we see any real work commenced on fixing Ferry Road. The General Manager’s report to the meeting states:
. . . irrespective of the commitments from both major political parties during the election campaign it is unlikely that any works will occur on Ferry Road within the next 2 years. DIER have advised that there will be at least 2 years of planning required for this project; however, in the meantime it is proposed that on peak weekend/holidays they will engage staff to monitor/assist with ferry traffic demand particularly as it relates to those residences which have access from Ferry Road
One can only presume that this also means that Council will continue to hide behind the perennial “we can’t do any work until DIER plans are finalised” to avoid progress on creating a safe pedestrian walkway along the Ferry Road foreshore. This despite unanimous support for the idea at last November’s Council meeting.
In relation to the ongoing problem of sewerage treatment at the Ferry Terminal the General Manager reports that:
. . . advice was provided (by DIER?) that an agreement has been reached between the owner of the Oyster Cove Inn and DIER (owners of the Ferry Terminal) for a combined treatment facility for both properties to be developed on the Oyster Cove Inn land. The treatment plant will only service the two properties. It is expected that a development application will be submitted in the near future.
Interesting news given that it implies some form of pipeline between the Ferry Terminal and the pub. Its not clear as to the extent Southern Water have been consulted on this solution. We are still waiting for Southern Water to get back to us with some costing of reticulated or other sewerage treatment options. They told us in January it would take around 3 months to produce an analysis.
Councillor Michelle Higgins has managed to extract some further information on the lack of all round progress by submitting a Question on Notice for the Council meeting.
Meanwhile in Parliament Liberal Member for Franklin, Jacquie Petrusma has been putting the acid on the government with a Notice of Motion.
A series of emails to Lara Giddings, pleading for her to get her Department to keep the community updated on exactly how they plan to spend the promised $8.0m on Ferry Road, appear to have fallen on deaf ears (or should that be blind eyes?). The Minister clearly believes that the community will eventually find out what’s going on via some form of osmosis.
If you would like to try your luck at getting some information out of DIER click here to generate an email to the Minister and Deputy Premier Giddings. You can edit the email to reflect your views before sending it on to Ms Giddings.
