WILD WINDS
State Emergency Service crews were kept busy on Tuesday night as wild winds lashed the region with most calls related to trees down or buildings damaged.
Crews responded to calls for assistance from the Clifton Springs, Portarlington area all the way back to Lara and right through the city. Most damage occurred between 5.30pm to 7.30pm
STATION WORKS
Work is well under way on a $7.3 million upgrade to accessibility at Geelong station with a new pedestrian bridge to be lifted into place at the weekend.
Transport minister Terry Mulder said all timetabled V/Line trains and road coaches would continue to operate during the major works, but the bus interchange would be closed with coaches and local route buses relocated to temporary bus stops at the Railway Tce taxi rank.
GOLF CHANGE
Thirteenth Beach Golf Links will host the Victorian Open for the third consecutive year but its dates have changed, PGA of Australia has announced.
Tournaments manager Simon Butterly said the open would be played from 5 to 8 February and moving it forward a fortnight would allow the tournament to attract a stronger field.
RETUNE TIME
All Geelong’s free-to-air channels changed frequencies this week requiring viewers to retune their televisions, freeing up broadcasting spectrum for other uses.
Areas affected by the retune included Geelong, East Geelong, South Geelong, North Geelong, Geelong West, St Albans Park, Drysdale, Belmont, Herne Hill, Whittington, Grovedale, Newcomb, Leopold and Newtown.
LIBRARY SURGE
Geelong Regional Library reported record community usage this year with increased visits and loans, CEO Patty Manolis said.
Over the last five years visits grew by 34 per cent to 1.7 million, membership grew 16 per cent, eBook loans were up 132 per cent and there was a 96 per cent increase in Wi-Fi usage.
ROADS FUNDS
Local councils would get $26.56 million for local road construction and street repairs, according to Federal Member for Corangamite, Sarah Henderson.
Ms Henderson said the Roads to Recovery program allocation represented an additional $4.26 million on the previous four years, a 19 per cent increase.
PORT DEBATE
Claims and counter claims over an opposition-proposed Bay West port against the state government preferred site of Hastings will be debated in Geelong next week.
Ports minister David Hodgett and shadow ports minister Natalie Hutchins will publicly debate the issue at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel at 5pm on 6 October.
