Measures reduce anti-social behaviour at Eastern Gardens and surrounds

EASTERN Gardens and surrounds is one of Geelong’s most beautiful locations.

Featuring the magnificent Geelong Botanic Gardens, the East Geelong Golf Club, sporting fields, acres of public open space and, from the northern end, views across Corio Bay, it’s an important place for our community and a drawcard for visitors.

Unfortunately, the appeal of the area has at times been badly impacted by hoon driving and other associated anti-social behaviour – particularly at Limeburners Point and in the Hearne Parade car park.

This is something I’ve been committed to addressing on behalf of local residents as part of my role as a councillor.

Working closely with Victoria Police, the City of Greater Geelong team has put several measures in place over the past 12-14 months that have made a genuine difference.

Installation of wheel-stopping traffic islands, improved street lighting, CCTV cameras and prominent signage at Limeburners Point have helped to deter hoon drivers and assist police in identifying offenders.

As a result, we have also seen a reduction in the amount of complaints related to anti-social behaviour.

More recently, the City has installed two temporary CCTV units in the Hearne Parade car park.

Each of these units features three cameras, providing coverage along the entire length of the car park and the shoulders of the roadway leading onto the grassed area.

The police have direct access to the footage captured by these cameras and the feedback from local residents about their impact has been very positive so far.

The temporary cameras will remain in place for the coming months while the teams works toward a permanent arrangement.

The aim of all of these measures is to keep these areas as open and accessible as possible for the community to enjoy, whilst deterring anti-social behaviour.

We will continue to meet with the local residents to gather feedback on how the measures are working, and will keep working on further ideas.

We encourage anyone who witnesses hoon behaviour to report it to the police.

A more pedestrian friendly Little Malop Street

There is a lot of anticipation from business operators in Geelong’s Little Malop Street hospitality precinct about the beginning of our new pedestrian-friendly initiative.

With such a wonderful array of cafes, restaurants and entertainment venues in the precinct, the Council is aiming to make it as
people-friendly and appealing for the community to visit as we can.

We’ve agreed to trial vehicle restrictions on Little Malop Street daily between 10am and 4am the next morning, from Dennys Place to Moorabool Street.

This will create a safe zone for pedestrians and increase the space available for outdoor dining and other activities.

We’re hoping this will be a really positive step towards enticing more people to spend time in Central Geelong and, by extension, supporting the recovery of our hospitality sector.

Keep an eye out for the trial to begin during the first half of this year.

Major events in Geelong

I spent a lot of time on our waterfront last weekend taking in the colour and excitement of the Festival of Sails.

This is an iconic event on our calendar that always provides the perfect backdrop for the Australia Day holiday period.

The Royal Geelong Yacht Club did a magnificent job as always – particularly in the face of uncertainty that prevented the large waterfront music festival we had become used to pre-COVID.

The yacht club’s replacement initiative, ‘Gigs by Festival of Sails’, was a great idea that spread the live music across multiple venues in Central Geelong.

Council was proud to provide a free fireworks display over Corio Bay to celebrate the beginning of the festival on Saturday night.

Accompanied by absolutely perfect Geelong summer weather, it was a magical evening that our community enjoyed and that hopefully gave our Central Geelong hospitality sector a financial boost.

Hammersley Reserve playground improvements

Local children in Bell Park will make good use of an improved play space at Hammersley Reserve.

The Council has funded an update of the playground and wider reserve to create an expanded play space with more equipment, plus a new path, extra trees, a new bubbler tap and relocated seating.

Local playgrounds like this are really important for the health and wellbeing of our youngest community members and the Council invests in playground renewals across the region annually.

Cr Eddy Kontelj