Call into improve swimmer safety at Springs Beach

A PETITION under consideration by the Borough of Queenscliffe is calling for better safety and accessibility at a beach in Point Lonsdale.

More than 200 people signed the Springs Beach car park petition, which the borough received on December 14 last year and presented to councillors at their meeting on Wednesday this week.

Springs Beach is located very close to the Royal Park and Golightly Park camping grounds, and the borough’s website states beachgoers can get access to it via ramp or stairs.

According to the petition, the request to improve beach safety near the car park was inspired by “a daily swimmer’s serious accident” on October 18 last year.

The petition calls on the borough to carry out seven actions:

* Install a second rail on the staircase from the pathway abutting the carpark to the beach

Replace the decaying ramp from the pathway abutting the carpark to the beach

Remove five rocks at the base of the beach stairs

Create two additional disability car spaces near the staircase

Install a life-saving buoy with a solar light near the stairs

Install a sign with the emergency marker location code and telephone numbers for the

Queenscliff Coast and 000 emergency services, and

Install and anti-slip surface on each of the stairs.

The officers’ report to councillors notes 214 people signed the petition. Of these, 94 are borough residents, 119 are non-residents and one person did not include an address on the petition.

The Springs Beach car park was briefly closed in 2015 for upgrades, including installing a full bitumen surface and formalising the parking spaces.