'Community Concepts' - DCSCA submission 5

This is the fifth submission by the Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) to the City of Greater Geelong's 'Community Concepts' programme.

For background on the programme, and earlier DCSCA submissions see "'Community Concepts' - making the process transparent" on this blog (22 January).

Improved Access to the Clifton Springs Foreshore, especially at the Dell and Beacon Point, enabling the creation of a “Foreshore Walk”.

The City of Greater Geelong is currently undertaking engineering action to combat erosion and land slippage along the Clifton Springs Foreshore. DCSCA considers this action imperative and seeks to ensure that it continue until a safe and stabilized foreshore is achieved that is accessible to the community (including the mobility challenged). Particular attention should be paid to providing safe access at the Dell and at Beacon Point – locations where access is difficult, steep and hazardous.

 

The Dell access should be improved via a path that is constructed to enable easier pedestrian access. Ideally this can be achieved by provision of a new pathway with a gentler slope. Alternatively the existing walkway could be re-aligned in a 'switchback' type or arrangement that would reduce the current dangerously steep incline. Similarly, a new access position from Beacon Point should also be constructed to provide an easy and safe walkway. Easy access and signage should encourage residents and visitors to walk along the Clifton Springs foreshore, to walk to the nearby Jack Rabbit restaurant and winery, and to take the 2-hour scenic foreshore walk to Portarlington.

Objectives of the project

• To ensure the residents of Clifton Springs have a safe environment.
• To enable the entire length of the Clifton Springs beach and foreshore to be easily accessible and available to the community for passive recreation, this will improve community health and wellbeing, and hence reduce obesity within the community and reduce the cost burden on the health system.
• To create a Clifton Springs “Foreshore Walk”.
• To facilitate a Clifton Springs to Portarlington “Foreshore Walk”.
• To increase social activity by promoting healthy lifestyles and by encouraging active recreation and an engaged community.
• To increase the tourism attraction of the Bellarine and hence grow the local economy and increase local employment opportunities.
• To encourage the community participation in non-polluting, carbon-neutral, sustainable activity.
• To sustain and enhance the natural environment.

DCSCA has been actively involved in revegetation at the Dell and has conducted community planting days. DCSCA has volunteer insurance and members would be happy to assist in any way.

Street address and suburb:  Clifton Springs

Council ward: Coryule

Estimate of total project cost: $30,000.  

'Community Concepts' - DCSCA submission 4

This is the fourth submission by the Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association to the City of Greater Geelong's 'Community Concepts' programme.

For background on the programme, and earlier DCSCA submissions see "'Community Concepts' - making the process transparent" on this blog (22 January).

Engineering action to combat erosion of the Clifton Springs Foreshore and historic Mineral Springs.

The City of Greater Geelong is currently undertaking engineering action to combat erosion and land slippage along the Clifton Springs Foreshore. DCSCA considers this action imperative and seeks to ensure that it continue until a safe and stabilized foreshore is achieved that is accessible to the community (including the mobility challenged). Particular attention should be paid to reclaim the beach at the site of the historic mineral springs in order to maintain what is left of this part of the heritage of Clifton Springs.

Objectives of the project 

• To ensure the residents of Clifton Springs have a safe environment.
• To arrest land slippage and to prevent further erosion.
• To reclaim sections of beach that have been lost and, specifically, to preserve what is left of the historic mineral springs.
• To enable the entire length of the Clifton Springs beach and foreshore to be available to the community for passive recreation, this will improve community health and wellbeing, reduce obesity within the community and reduce the cost burden on the health system.
• To increase social activity (and reduce anti-social behavior) by promoting healthy lifestyles and by encouraging active recreation and an engaged community.
• To increase the tourism attraction of the Bellarine and hence grow the local economy and increase local employment opportunities.
• To encourage the community participation in, carbon-neutral, non-polluting sustainable activity.
• To sustain and enhance the natural environment.

DCSCA has been actively involved in re-vegetation at the Dell and has conducted community planting days. DCSCA has volunteer insurance and members would be happy to assist in any way.

Council ward: Coryule

Estimate of total project cost: $200,000.

Attachment - Erosion of the Clifton Springs Foreshore.doc.

The site of the Historic Mineral Springs has been almost totally eroded into the bay. This has

been caused by human actions, such as the 'harvesting' of shell grit for industrial purposes in the 1930s. The spring water which once emerged about 10m above high water mark now bubbles up below the high water mark.

3 groynes have been constructed to the east of the springs site. These have been successful in reducing erosion within the groyne array, but appear to have increased it at the ends of the array, such that erosion is accelerating at the site of the Historic Mineral Springs. Erosion is also occurring at the west end of the groyne array in the region of Edge Water Drive. Areas which once were beach are being lost and impassable at high tide. Access points to the foreshore are few and difficult to access by the mobility challenged.

 

'Community Concepts' - DCSCA submission 3

This is the third submission by the Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) to the City of Greater Geelong's 'Community Concepts' programme.

For background on the programme, and earlier DCSCA submissions see "'Community Concepts' - making the process transparent" on this blog (22 January).

Booklet to publicize Scenic Walking and CyclingTrails around the Bellarine.

Provision of a booklet to provide maps of existing scenic trails (for both walking and cycling) around the Bellarine. Booklet to be available at Tourist Information Centres. Such a booklet used to be provided. DCSCA believes that Geelong and the Bellarine has the potential to become an internationally recognized tourist destination for recreational walkers and cyclists.  Co-ordinated actions to identify and promote these scenic trails will attract more visitors to the region. 

Objectives of the project

• To grow the local economy and increase local employment opportunities.
• To increase and promote the tourism attraction of the Bellarine.
• To improve community health and well-being, reduce obesity within the community and reduce the cost burden on the health system.
• To increase social activity (and reduce anti-social behavior) by promoting healthy lifestyles and by encouraging active recreation and an engaged community.
• To encourage the community participation in non-polluting sustainable activity
• To promote and enhance the natural environment.
• The cost could possibly be entirely offset by obtaining sponsorship. This is the type of activity with which State and Federal Government, commercial enterprises and community service groups would be glad to have their name associated.

DCSCA has, for some time, actively promoted scenic trails in Drysdale, Clifton Springs and the Bellarine Peninsula in general. As a result, some are now identified in the REMA Tourist Information Map and in the 2014 North Bellarine Business and Services Directory.

DCSCA has volunteer insurance and members would be happy to assist in any way.

Street address and suburb: The Bellarine Peninsula.

Council ward: Various

Estimate of total project cost: $5,000

'Community Concepts' - DCSCA submission 2

This is the second submission by the Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) to the City of Greater Geelong's 'Community Concepts' programme.

For background on the programme, and DCSCA's initial submission see "'Community Concepts' - making the process transparent" on this blog (22 January).

Signage for Scenic Trails in Drysdale and Clifton Springs.

Provision of signage to identify existing scenic trails (for both walking and cycling) linking points of interest and scenic locations around Drysdale Clifton Springs.  For example a notice board at Drysdale Station would display a map highlighting trails, which would encourage people to undertake a scenic walk or ride to the spectacular Dell Lookout via McLeod’s Waterholes and Griggs Creek.

DCSCA believes that Geelong and the Bellarine has the potential to become an internationally-recognized tourist destination for recreational walkers and cyclists.  Co-ordinated actions to identify and promote these scenic trails will attract more visitors to the region.

For some time, DCSCA has been actively promoting scenic trails in Drysdale, Clifton Springs and the Bellarine Peninsula more broadly. As a result, some are identified in the REMA Tourist Information Map and in the 2014 North Bellarine Business and Services Directory.

Objectives of the project

• To grow the local economy and increase local employment opportunities.
• To increase and promote the tourism attraction of the central Bellarine.
• To improve community health and well-being, reduce obesity within the community and reduce the cost burden on the health system.
• To increase social activity (and reduce anti-social behavior) by promoting healthy lifestyles and by encouraging active recreation and an engaged community.
• To encourage the community participation in non-polluting sustainable activity
• To promote and enhance the natural environment.

Street address and suburb: Drysdale and Clifton Springs 

Council ward: Coryule

Estimate of total project cost: $5,000. Total cost would depend on the number of signs.  The project could start with four signs: one each at Drysdale Station, a location on the Rail Trail, the Boat Harbour and the Dell. The cost could possibly be offset by sponsorship.  This is the type of activity with which State and Federal Government, commercial enterprises and community service groups would be glad to have their name associated.

DCSCA has volunteer insurance and members would be happy to assist in any way. Any on-going maintenance should be minimal.

'Community Concepts' - making the process transparent

In December 2013, the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) invited individuals, groups and organisations in the Greater Geelong area to submit proposals for capital works, to be considered for inclusion in the council's 2014 - 2015 budget.

The programme is called 'Community Concepts' and the submission process opened in December and closed on January 17 2014. This is, of course, a time when many people are away on holiday and the council has been criticised consistently over many years (not least by the Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association) for conducting its 'public consultation' exercises at this time, preventing many people from participating in them.

No accountabilty, no learning from mistakes
Compounding that error, the council is refusing to make submissions public (other than listing their titles on its web site); and, once successful submissions have been chosen, it is refusing to explain how the choices were made. So people who have submitted proposals won't know a) how their submission compared with others and b) what it was about their submission that caused it to be judged a success or failure.

So not only will the whole process be removed from any public accountability, submitters will have no chance to learn what makes a submission successful and, therefore, to improve the quality of their submission for the next year. What a wasted opportunity!

Opening the process to scrutiny - if only a little bit
Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) believes that the 'Community Concepts' programme could be an opportunity for the council and its constituents to collaborate on deciding how the council's capital works budget should be spent. Not only would this open those budget decisions to public scrutiny, it would also improve the quality of those decisions by involving a broader section of the community.

At this stage, the council shows no willingness to grasp those opportunities. No one submitter can break open the council's secretive policy by itself, but DCSCA believes that submitters can at least tell each other about their submissions. This will help us to decide on the good and bad points of our submissions and, in doing so, give us some grounds on which to question the council's final choice of submissions.

To this end, DCSCA will publish its submissions on this blog site; and it invites other submitters to send us their submissions, so that anyone who is interested in the 'Community Concepts' programme can study it in a way that the council won't allow. Please send submissions to DCSCA Secretary Neil McGuinness (mcgnj@bigpond.com)

DCSCA's first submission (of thirteen) is below; the remainder will be published on this blog in due course.
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Beautification of Council-owned land at Spring Street, Clifton Springs.

Implement Stage 1 of a Community Plan presented to the City of Greater Geelong in 2010. This would entail planting about 100 flowering native shrubs to approx. 1.5m tall to encourage native birds and to obscure the fence line.

Objectives of the project 

• To beautify the area and enhance community well being
• To promote healthy lifestyles by encouraging passive recreation
• To encourage native birds and enhance the ecosystem of the nearby Dell and foreshore
• To contribute to the council's plan to plant 20,000 native trees and shrubs in the next 12 months.

Street address and suburb: Spring Street, Clifton Springs

Council ward: Coryule

Estimated cost: $1500. Council already mows and maintains the area, so there will be minimal additional maintenance costs.

Travelling the Wathaurong Way?

 

Geelong City Hall

On 24 September, the City of Greater Geelong council decided to fly the Aboriginal flag alongside the Australian flag over City Hall.

This decision follows the state government's decision in May to rename the 4.5m arterial link (formerly known as '4C') in Armstrong Creek Baanip Boulevard. The name honours local Aboriginal man Willem Baanip, a Wathaurong man who was born in 1836 near what is now Market Square,  lived on the Duneed Aboriginal Land Reserve near to the current Ghazeepore Road and died in 1885. The newly named road will link the Geelong Ring Road and the Surf Coast Highway. VicRoads expects to start work on the new road in late 2013 and finish it in 2016.

Many communities are taking similar actions to recognise their Aboriginal heritage; and this is happening as Australia prepares for a referendum on a proposal to recognise Australia’s Aboriginal peoples formally in the country’s Constitution.

A local act of recognition

Drysdale and Clifton Springs continue to be enriched by the culture of today’s Wathaurong people, which goes back thousands of years. In the lead-up to the Constitutional Recognition referendum, we could consider making our own formal recognition of the area’s Aboriginal people and heritage. One suggestion made to DCSCA is that we ask people on the north Bellarine how they would feel about renaming the Portarlington Road as Wathaurong Way.

Communities often name roads after local dynasties - Drysdale and Clifton Springs have several examples. How appropriate, then, to name Portarlington Road after the area’s longest-standing ‘dynasty’ – the Wathaurong people. To make the re-naming a real act of community recognition, it needs support from across the community. DCSCA invites local people to start conversations in the area about the proposal and to tell us your views.

 

A new sports precinct - a new approach?

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Local sports clubs have told DCSCA that they can’t cope with the continuing expansion of demand for their facilities and are frustrated at the lack of progress on the long-awaited Regional Sports Precinct planned for Drysdale.

 

Theyu argues that existing sports facilities were never meant to serve the expanding local population and their inadequacy affects not just Drysdale & Clifton Springs but the whole of the North Bellarine.

Making the case
In response, DCSCA convened a meeting on September 16 of all local sports clubs, together with local councillor Rod Macdonald and relevant officers from the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG). Cr Macdonald and the officers said that while CoGG has adopted a Master Plan for the $40m precinct in 2011, the project needed state government funds to proceed.

CoGG's 2011 Master Plan for the proposed Sports Precinct shares the cost between the council and the state government, so when the state government refused to provide its share of the funding, the project had to be postponed indefinitely. Consequently, everyone at the September 16 meeting agreed that during the November 2014 state elections, each club and club member should ask each local candidate what they would do, if elected, to make the planned Sports Precinct a reality.

Meanwhile, clubs and individuals should ask local councillors and state & federal MPs to convince the state government to pay its share of the cost of the Sports Precinct. Here are their contact details:

·    Cr Rod Macdonald, Cheetham ward: rmacdonald@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

·    Cr Lindsay Ellis, Coryule ward:  LEllis@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

·    Ms Lisa Neville, MP for Bellarine (state parliament): lisa.neville@parliament.vic.gov.au

·    Mr Richard Marles, MP for Corio (federal parliament): richard.marles.mp@aph.gov.au

What? No Plan B?!

Faced with the state government's refusal to pay its share of the cost of the Sports Precinct, CoGG has no '(Master) Plan B' and shows no sign of even looking for one. As a result, people on the North Bellarine must cope indefinitely as local population growth - planned, of course, by CoGG - renders local sports facilities increasingly inadequate.

Rather than wishing and hoping that a future state government will provide the cash for a Sports Precinct in Drysdale, CoGG should be planning and dreaming of a different model for the project that would enable it to proceed. For example, instead of relying exclusively on public money to pay for the Precinct, CoGG could examine ways to mix various forms of public money with various forms of private money.

One approach would be to create a Public Trust to build, maintain and manage the Sports Precinct. The Trust would invite investment by public financial institutions (e.g. pension and superannuation funds), private financial institutions (e.g. banks) and individuals.

As a community facility, the Precinct shouldn't be run purely as a profit-making business at the expense of accessibility. Instead, investors would receive an annual dividend, only after the annual costs of building, maintaining and managing the Precinct (including contributing to a contingency fund for emergencies) were paid; and the legal documents establishing the Public Trust could include clauses to limit the dividend while retaining its attractiveness.

More work needed!

Schemes featuring public-private collaboration have had very chequered results, both here and elsewhere. Therefore, a lot of work will be needed to avoid their worst aspects, such as private investors profiting quickly from a scheme and then withdrawing, leaving the public sector to deal with long-term management and maintenance costs. 

Such a Public Trust is but one suggestion to overcome inadequate funding and it may be an inappropriate for the area. However, its underlying assumption will remain valid - the North Bellarine needs a Regional Sports Precinct, it is the council's responsibility to provide it and the council should actively seek ways to overcome the current stalemate.