Councillor on attack

Kim Waters
Barwon Heads’ ward councillor has slammed the town’s community association as “out of touch”.
But members have told Andy Richards to “pull his head in” after he attacked them for criticising a council parking and traffic study for Barwon Heads.
Cr Richards was furious Barwon Heads Community Association had in last week’s Independent accused the study of failing to acknowledge growing traffic safety threats in the town.
“There are a number of key local groups in Barwon Heads that are not represented by the association. For example, the kindergarten, the primary school and various sport groups,” Cr Richards said.
“I have attended several association meetings since I was elected and, frankly, they are getting worse, with fewer and fewer locals attending.”
Cr Richards hit back at the association’s claims the traffic and parking study recommendations were “inappropriate” for handling increasing volumes of traffic in the town.
“There are a number of recommendations in the report that go to the heart of the problem now and in the future.”
Cr Richards also slammed resident Donald McCann, who used a council meeting question time to raise a loss of parking spaces from the redevelopment of Barwon Heads Bridge.
“Obviously, as the owner of a substantial amount of real estate in the supermarket area of Barwon Heads he is particularly keen to fix up any parking issues in the area,” Cr Richards said.
Mr McCann had not returned the Independent’s call for comment when the paper went to press on Wednesday afternoon.
But Community association president Geoffrey Waite said Cr Richards should “pull his head in”.
Mr Waite said the association represented the community fairly.
Residents “rallied behind” the organisation “when things need to get done”.
“We aren’t really happy with the communication we’ve had with Cr Richards and for him to say we don’t represent the community shows he doesn’t really know what’s going on in Barwon Heads,” Mr Waite said.
“I think he’s a staunch member of the Labor party and pushes its line, whereas we’re apolitical and only interested in representing the community.”