By Melissa Grant
Opposing the council’s draft budget, Cr Chatwin last week said the program had again neglected the shire’s rural areas, particularly the hills.
He estimated that just 0.2 per cent of capital works funds committed in the 09/10 budget would be spent in Ranges Ward – it includes the tows of Gembrook, Cockatoo and Emerald – while 69.4 per cent would be used for projects in the shire’s growth corridor.
Bunyip Ward would get a 24.9 per cent slice of the pie and Port Ward 2.5 per cent, Cr Chatwin said.
“The expenditure is Pakenham growth area centric,” he said.
But Cardinia Shire mayor Bill Pearson, of Bunyip Ward, disagreed that the capital works program favoured Central Ward.
“We are keeping it (infrastructure) in the growth corridor and that’s the way it should be,” he said.
Central Ward councillor Brett Owen said Cr Chatwin needed to look at the bigger picture. He said certain infrastructure was needed in the growth corridor while council money tended to be spent on graders, bridge replacements and special charge schemes in the municipality’s rural areas.
“A lot of these projects (in Central Ward) are for the benefit of the whole shire,” Cr Owen said.
Wildlife under threat
Beaconsfield residents are raising serious concerns about the environmental impact of the newly approved Acre Ridge Development at the end of May Road.
Residents were...
