Council to consult with Grove community about the right path

THE City of Greater Geelong will consult with Ocean Grove residents later this year regarding the costs associated with the installation of new footpaths and shared paths.

Director of City Services Guy Wilson-Browne said based on community feedback from the Principal Pedestrian Network survey, the council was in the process of finalising the design of a footpath network for Ocean Grove.

“Once finalised, Ocean Grove’s new pedestrian network will add to the 1,600 kilometres of footpaths we have already established and regularly maintain across Greater Geelong,” Mr Wilson-Browne said. “In the second half of 2018, we will consult the Ocean Grove community about its preference for how the costs associated with the network should be allocated.”

Mr Wilson-Browne said a continuous network of footpaths promoted health, improved safety and connected residents with the people and services that were part of their local community.

Last July, engineers began designing the network which took into consideration more than 800 surveys residents submitted.

Path safety was the most important characteristic identified by respondents, with more than 400 requests for pedestrian crossing improvements, and 71 locations were reviewed by the city’s engineers.

More than 80 per cent of all survey respondents said the costs of new footpaths should be shared beyond immediately abutting property owners, either through a sliding scale applied to properties within 400 metres of the footpaths (26 per cent) or by having all property owners in Ocean Grove contribute to the new paths (56 per cent).