Bringing the springs back to life

DCSCA has proposed a joint project with the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) to revive the mineral springs from which Clifton Springs gets its name.

Clifton Springs in its heyday 1890

We believe that at least 3 springs have their outlets between the high and low water marks on the Clifton Springs beach. Originally, they were well above the water line and were the focus of the Clifton Springs spa in the 19th and early 20th centuries, where people from the Geelong and Melbourne regions came to "take the waters" for their alleged health-giving properties.

More recently, the water from the springs has been declared unfit for drinking - ironic, given the early claims that it improved drinkers' health! For this reason, the area has been allowed to deteriorate. Coastal erosion continues to take its toll on the site (see the two photos), with the result that the springs outlets are now submerged by the incoming tide.

Spring into the future?
DCSCA would like the historic springs that gave Clifton Springs its name to “live on” and enhance the experience of visitors to the area. More specifically, we would like the spring water outlets to be revived as an historic feature, visible from the planned boardwalk that will go around the nearby promontary.

We are proposing a three-stage process to revive the springs:
1. Identify and record the location of the spring water outlet (at low tide!). Place a temporary 'collar' (e.g. a concrete tube) over each outlet, so that the spring water discharges above the high water level.
2. Ensure that the boardwalk offers suitable points from which to view all of the spring water outlets and include pointers to each spring, plus information about them, in the fabric of the boardwalk.
3. On completion of the boardwalk, replace the temporary 'collars' with more attractive structures. Invite local artists (e.g. sculptors, glass artists) to submit expressions of interest in creating one or more of these features; and invite local schools, groups, clubs and residents to suggest design ideas.

Photos:
* SpringDale Collectables on Facebook
* A. S. Miner Geotechnical (2011) Coastal erosion and stability study: Clifton Springs. Report to City of Greater Geelong . p22.

DCSCA suggests community communication strategy to Geelong Administrators

Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) has sent a draft Community Communication policy to the Administrators of the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG).

One of the Administrators' tasks is to design a Community Communication Strategy and the DCSCA Committee has sent the Administrators a draft Community Communication Strategy that was adopted in April 2010 by the Affiliation of Bellarine Community Associations (ABCA).

The draft Strategy was produced because for years, community associations on the Bellarine Peninsula – individually and through the collective forum of the ABCA - had levelled detailed criticisms at the City of Greater Geelong over its handling of public consultation. In 2010, the ABCA decided to go beyond criticism and to propose ways to improve the council's communications with its citizens. It submitted a draft consultation policy to the council, intending that it would be the first step in a joint effort to improve the council's consultations.

The council didn't even show the ABCA the courtesy of acknowledging receipt of the document, let alone respond substantively to it. 

The DCSCA Committee has told the CoGG Administrators that the ABCA draft Strategy reflected community attitudes to community communication at the time and that it will assist them to design a contemporary community communication strategy.
 When ABCA submitted its draft Strategy to the council, it accompanied it with a covering letter summarising the draft Strategy; this appears below.

ABCA draft Community Communication Strategy. Covering Letter.

The Affiliation of Bellarine Community Associations believes that the City of Greater Geelong's public communication and consultation practices could be better than they are now; and that improving them would contribute to building a vigorous local democracy. We are keen to contribute to that process and, in that spirit, we make the following two proposals:

1. The City of Greater Geelong should develop a set of protocols concerning its communication and consultation with communities and other stakeholders; and should list specific communication and consultation targets that should be met before any proposal or report is presented to a Council meeting.

2. Each proposal or report presented to a Council meeting should include a section - ‘Communication & Consultation’ - in which the authors show that they have:

(i) communicated with and consulted relevant communities and other stakeholders in accordance with the Council’s communication and consultation protocols

(ii) met the specific targets associated with those protocols.

Such protocols and targets will enable councillors to see whether and to what extent their officers have communicated and consulted with stakeholders in the manner that the Council has decided they should; and they will enable stakeholders to see whether and to what extent their views have been taken into account in a Council proposal or report.

At present, some reports and proposals to Council list and/or summarise the results of consultations, but this practice isn’t consistent. Implementing our two proposals will give continuity and consistency to the Council’s relationships with its stakeholders.

These proposals require no new spending and this alone should commend them to councillors! Indeed, we believe that making the Council’s public communication and consultation consistent with published protocols and targets will streamline officers’ work, instill new stakeholder confidence in the process and provide tangible evidence that the City of Greater Geelong listens to its constituents and wants to promote local democracy. The outcome will be that the Council's public communication and consultation will be easier and quicker (and potentially less expensive) to perform.

DCSCA meets Cllr. John Doull (6)

On 4 August, DCSCA Committee members met Councillor John Doull at City Hall. This was the sixth of the quarterly meetings that DCSCA has initiated with the two City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) Councillors whose wards coincide with DCSCA's area - the other is Councillor Rod Macdonald, whom we met on 5 August.

New DCSCA Committee 2011-2012
First, we told Cr. Doull that DCSCA had held its annual General Meeting on July 20, at which a new Committee was elected and told him the members of the 2011-2012 Committee. (To see the membership of the 2011-2012 DCSCA Committee, go to 'DCSCA's 2011 Annual General Meeting' on this blog, 25 July 2011.)

Beacon Point Reserve Masterplan
Continuing our discusion about the proposed Beacon Point Reserve at our last meeting (see 'DCSCA meets Cr. John Doull [5]' on this blog, 12 May 2011), Cr. Doull said that the Masterplan for the development of this reserve will be completed by December 2011, so that a bid can be made for funds in CoGG’s 2011-2012 budget to implement it. Cr. Doull said that he regards the Reserve as a new community facility for Clifton Springs, to balance the development of such facilities in Drysdale. He reiterated his view that the Reserve should be essentially an open space with minimal ‘infrastructure’ (e.g., a toilet block, a barbeque area) and perhaps a discrete ‘artistic/sculptural’ presence.

The DCSCA representatives welcomed the news that the Masterplan will be completed by December 2011 and that there will be a bid for funds to implement it in the 2012-2013 budget year. We reiterated our support for Cr. Doull’s ideas for the Reserve, because they coincide with two DCSCA programs: the Open Spaces Network and Streetscape to Artscape.*

We raised the proposed Bellarine Lookout and Cr.Doull said that $20,000 is available to fund the next stage of this development, which will build on the consultation meeting held in July. These funds must be spent in this budget year, or they’ll be lost, so the next stage is likely to be completed by the end of 2011.

CoGG's 'bio-retention basins' (aka 'urban dams')
We suggested that while the recent fiasco at Ryan Court around these so-called 'basins' isn't Cr. Doull's responsibility directly (Ryan Court is in Cr. Macdonald's ward), events at Ryan Court raised council-wide issues around environmental protection, which is Cr. Doull's council portfolio. (For more information about Ryan Court, see 'Who you gonna call? Dam busters!' on this blog, 1 August 2011.)

The 'basin' in Ryan Court was created to deal with the increased stormwater run-off from a nearby new housing estate and equivalent 'basins' are going to be associated with other new housing estates, such as those in Jetty Road and the Central Walk estate off Murradoc Road. Events at Ryan Court showed a) that the design of these devices is faulty and b) that council officers cannot specify how effective these devices are in filtering pollutants - their ostensible purpose.

Cr. Doull said that he would investigate the issue with Gary van Driel (CoGG’s Manager, City Services) and Rod Thomas (CoGG’s Manager, Environment and Natural Resources and head of the council’s environmental unit).

Staying with environmental issues, we said that while the council has invited expressions of interest for the Community Reference Group associated with Future Proofing Geelong - its plan for a low-carbon local economy - it hasn't published any selection criteria for membership of this group. Cr. Doull confirmed that there are no published selection criteria for members of the Community Reference Group, but is confident that the selection process will be fair and open.

DCSCA's next quarterly meeting with Cr. Doull will be on Thursday 3 November 2011 at 10.30 a.m. at City Hall. Any residents of the Drysdale/Clifton Springs area are welcome to ask DCSCA to raise any issue of concern with Cr. Doull.

* The Open Spaces Network consists of a series of open spaces in Drysdale & Clifton Springs, protected from development, linked by cycling/walking trails and each with its own ‘Friends’ group. (For recent developments, see 'Bike wheels or hamster wheel?' on this blog, 5 August 2011.) Streetscape to Artscape is a joint project (with SpringDale Neighbourhood Centre) to create artworks in public places in Drysdale & Clifton Springs, each one reflecting local people’s memories of our area and hopes for its future.

Bike wheels or hamster wheel?

On Tuesday 2 August 2011, DCSCA officers discussed a proposed Northern Cycling Trail in Drysdale with Jake McMinn, co-ordinator of the City of Greater Geelong's Cycle Strategy (2008).

DCSCA's Neil McGuinness explained that the Northern Cycling Trail is part of DCSCAs Open Spaces Network program, which aims to create a network of open spaces in Drysdale and Clifton Springs, each with its own 'Friends' group and all connected by connected by a network of cycling/walking trails. (See 'Don't fence me in!' on this blog November 26 2010)

Neil also explained that DCSCA is taking its proposals to the Affiliation of Bellarine Community Associations (ABCA), which represents all nine communities on the Bellarine, with the ultimate aim of creating a Bellarine-wide integrated network of cycling/walking trails, with each town having its own 'loops', such as Drysdale's Northern Cycling Trail.

CoGG's Cycle Strategy Jake McMinn explained that CoGG's Cycle Strategy is the responsibility of the council's Sports and Recreation department and that it aims to create a mixture of bike lanes on roads (owned by CoGG or VicRoads) and off-road trails, mostly on council or government land. CoGG's Cycle Strategy is part of a broader regional approach to cycling, although this concentrates on off-road trails.

CoGG's Sports and Recreation department has allocated limited funds to cycling issues, so officers try to 'leverage' their limited funds. For example:
o Sports and Recreation sometimes pays all the costs of creating a bike lane and sometimes shares the costs with CoGG's Engineering Services department (which physically creates the bike lanes)
o Sports and Recreation is paying for the 'green treatments' (currently marking-out bike lanes in especially hazardous places in Central Geelong) as 'demonstration projects' and asking Engineering Services to create more at equivalent locations across Geelong
o Some projects - while part of CoGG's Cycle Strategy - are on roads owned by VicRoads, so CoGG looks to VicRoads to implement them.

CoGG's Cycle Strategy lists projects according to where they sit in five priority bands. DCSCA officers noted that of the twenty projects in the top priority band, fourteen are in Central Geelong, while the remaining six are spread across all of Geelong's outer areas (such as Drysdale & Clifton Springs!). Jake McMinn explained that this is because many Central Geelong projects create longer bike lanes/trails by linking two or more separate ones.

Thus, cycling - like economic development and tourism - is another instance of disparity between the resources allocated to Central Geelong and those allocated to 'outlying' areas, enriching the centre at the expense of the periphery. Having said that, one of the six top priority cycling projects in 'outlying' areas is to create bike lanes in Drysdale's Jetty Road, so that's comforting.

'All aboard the hamster wheel!'
It was a good meeting and DCSCA officers felt that the Northern Cycle trail at least has a foot on the hamster wheel of CoGG's policy-making! Jake McMinn will investigate whether plans for the proposed Drysdale bypass include bike lanes and let us know. Meanwhile DCSCA will re-work its current proposal for a Northern Cycling Trail as a series of elements, rank each one according to its priority and submit the result to CoGG.

Meeting the Minister

On 20 July, DCSCA and other members of the nine-strong Affiliation of Bellarine Community Associations (ABCA) sent representatives to central Geelong to meet state Planning Minister Matthew Guy.

The meeting - arranged some months ago - was at the Gheringhap Street office of David Koch (MLC). ABCA had asked to talk to Minister Guy about the proposal in the Liberal/National Coalition's election manifesto to create a series of 'Planning Statements', including one for the Bellarine Peninsula. In particular, ABCA wanted to know whether the creation of the Bellarine 'Planning Statement' would feature input from local communities and the Minister confirmed that there would be.

The ABCA representatives then explained the ABCA's particular significance as the only democratically elected and accountable body representing all the communities on the Bellarine. They highlighted the lack of such democratic accountability in other local 'community groups' and emphasised the positive role that ABCA could play as a conduit (alongside City of Greater Geelong Councillors) for the exchange of information and ideas between the state government and local people.

The Minister thanked the ABCA representatives for their time and for their views. He said that his office would be in touch at the time when the Planning Statement for the Bellarine Peninsula was being written, but he didn't know just when that would be.

Bellarine associations formalise relationships

On 16 February, community associations across the Bellarine decided to formalise their relationships with each other, in order to operate more effectively.

For the past three years, the nine associations - including Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association - have been meeting quarterly as the Affiliation of Bellarine Community Associations (ABCA)*. Each meeting is hosted by a different association, which also provides the chairperson for that meeting.

In the last year, ABCA as produced or adopted several formal policies about, for example, infrastructure on the Bellarine and local government consultation practices. It organised a community election forum around last year's Victoria state election and is conducting a mid-term review of the City of Greater Geelong's Bellarine Strategic Plan.

ABCA has now decided that it will adopt a more formal structure and operation. Thus, from its next meeting it will have a Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer, each of whom will be elected annually; and it will become an incorporated body ('ABCA Inc.'). The changes have been prompted partly by ABCA's growing role as a policy-making and advocacy body and partly because it has been invited to contribute to the Regionalise Land Use strategy being developed by the G21 organisation**.


* The nine members of ABCA are: Barwon Heads Association, Drysdale/Clifton Springs Community Association Inc., Indented Head Community Association, Leopold & District Community Association Inc., Ocean Grove Community Association, Point Lonsdale Civic Association, Portarlington Community Association, Queenscliff Community Association and St. Leonards Progress Association.

** G21 is an association between five local councils - City of Greater Geelong, Borough of Queenscliff, Golden Plains Shire, Colac Otway and Surf Coast Shire.

Bellarine associations meet senior council managers

On 9 September, senior managers from the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG), led by Chief Executive Stephen Griffin, met representatives of the Affiliation of Bellarine Community Associations ABCA) for a second time. ABCA had arranged the first meeting on June 18 and Stephen Griffin initiated this follow-up.

The second meeting consolidated the work of the first around four issues:
1. Communication with CoGG on Bellarine-wide issues. ABCA people had asked in the first meeting for a liaison person within CoGG with whom to raise Bellarine-wide issues. In this second meeting, it was agreed that Stephen Griffin's office would be ABCA's first point of contact for operational issues; and that the ABCA will convene a meeting with the four councillors representing the Bellarine to discuss Bellarine-wide policy issues.
2. CoGG consultation policy. CoGG is reviewing its approach to consultation, drawing on the work of the International Association for Public Participation (IAPP). ABCA people had emphasized in the first meeting that CoGG's current policy includes no benchmarks of excellence or audit mechanisms to see if they're met; and highlighted a similar lack in the IAPP material.
3. Long-term plans for the Bellarine. In the first meeting, Stephen Griffin had described the ABCA as the peak body for community issues on the Bellarine and that ABCA would be invited to be part of CoGG's 2011 mid-term review of the Bellarine Strategic Plan.
In this meeting he said that the G21 Regional Land Use Plan (G21RLUP) will govern where, when and how development will occur in the G21 region(including the Bellarine Peninsula); and that the authors of the G21 Regional Land Use Plan will draw on the Bellarine Strategic Plan and other strategic and structure plans.
It was agreed that the 2011 mid term review of the Bellarine Strategic Plan could take place as part of the G21RLUP process and that the ABCA should a) liaise with equivalent regional organisations elsewhere in the G21 region to foster 'community ownership' of the Plan; b) hold a regional forum to discuss the Plan's draft proposals when they are released in late 2011 or early 2012.
4. Infrastructure on the Bellarine. The ABCA has developed a comprehensive plan for upgrading regional infrastructure. It was agreed that ABCA should submit its plan to the Project Steering Group of the G21 Regional Land Use Plan and should request involvement in the G21RLUP process.

Bellarine community associations meet City of Greater Geelong CEO

On June 18, representatives from community associations on the Bellarine Peninsula met Stephen Griffin, Chief Executive Officer of the City of Greater Geelong for the first time to discuss Bellarine-wide issues.

The meeting lasted an hour and covered four items.
1. Consultation policy
Stephen Griffin heard of the widespread feeling within communities that the City of Greater Geelong's public consultations appear to have no effect on subsequent policies. He agreed to a further meeting to hear detailed examples and to discuss a new consultation policy for the council that has been presented by ABCA.

2. Infrastructure on the Bellarine
ABCA has produced a comprehensive list of items needing attention and it was suggested that a designated CoGG 'officer for the Bellarine' could assist CoGG to respond to these sorts of Bellarine-wide isues. Stephen Griffin advised ABCA to submit its list and proposals to CoGG's draft Land Use Strategy when it is released for public consultation.

3. City of Greater Geelong's strategic priorities for the Bellarine
Stephen Griffin heard that people on the Bellarine Peninsula believe that CoGG sees the Bellarine as the 'poor cousin' to developing areas such as Armstrong Creek. Stephen Griffin said that CoGG would involve ABCA - as the peak community body on the Bellarine - in the mid-term review in 2011 of CoGG's Bellarine Strategic Plan.

4. Climate change
It was reported that Bellarine Bayside is about to undertake a study on climate change, yet the area it controls is only a small proportion of our total communities. ABCA called for CoGG, Surf Coast Shire and other relevant agencies to be involved in any such study.

The meeting was arranged by the Affiliation of Bellarine Community Associations (ABCA), of which Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) is a member. Representatives of the Barwon Heads Association, DCSCA, Ocean Grove Community Association and Indented Head Community Association attended the meeting and other associations that were unable to be represented sent their apologies.

The meeting was positive and business-like. It bodes well for future relations between ABCA and CoGG.