Street talk ‘stormed’

Kim Waters
ANGRY objectors have gatecrashed a council meeting on the controversial closure of a Point Lonsdale road, according to their spokesperson.
Angus McDonald said they presented a 180-signature petition at last weekend’s meeting, organised to “exclude” residents.
Mr McDonald said council had “privately invited” Alexander Crescent residents without informing anyone else.
The Independent has run a series of recent reports on the proposed permanent closure, which residents in surrounding streets and CFA officers label a fire-safety hazard. Queenscliff fire brigade captain David Hume has refused to support the closure, saying it could be a “fatal mistake”.
Borough of Queenscliff councillors last month deferred for a second time their decision on whether the temporary closure should become permanent.
Mr McDonald said the “continuing saga” of council’s temporary barricade in the formerly popular shortcut to Point Lonsdale’s back beach had turned it into a “ghost town”.
“There are 35 houses in this street and only three or four people who actually want the closure,” he said.
“Residents want the road closed because they say it’s too busy and dangerous in the summer for their kids to play on the street but that’s only for one month of the year.
“A lot of people who live on the street say it’s a loss of amenity and that if they had wanted to live in a dead-end street they would have bought a house in one.”
Mr McDonald described the controversial closure as a “12-month solution to a one-month-a-year problem”.
“Cutting back street foliage so motorists have better visibility or installing speed humps or a speed-limit reduction are all hassle-free solutions but we don’t know why they haven’t been considered.”
A Queenscliff council spokesperson said the borough was “currently considering a number of options”.
“I believe [council] will contact residents about options for moving forward in the not-too-distant future,” the spokesperson said.
“One idea is a collapsible bollard, which has a designed weak point so it breaks and falls once you hit it.”
The spokesperson said council would “consider” the issue again at this month’s meeting.