Township needs help

THE Yarra Glen and District Township Group is calling on local residents for support as they prepare to launch into another year.
As the group, which includes all the 3775 communities, gears up for its AGM later this month, chairperson Malcolm Calder said the group needs more support from the community to cover all the issues arising from the growth and development of Yarra Glen.
Mr Calder, who lives in Steels Creek, said the last 12 months had been the most extraordinary period in the life of the 3775 communities.
“Quite apart from the massive loss of property and the total disruption to our normal lives, we mourn the deaths of 11 of our friends and neighbors during the fire of 7 February,” he said.
“We owe it to them to make sure that we are united in our efforts to recover and rebuild.”
He said there were currently two major projects impacting on the region, in addition to the daunting task of recovery.
The Sugarloaf Pipeline he said was opposed by the Township Group and Steels Creek and Dixons Creek communities in the two years leading up to the start of works.
“Quite apart from the obvious physical destruction of farmland and forest, our communities were strongly opposed to the removal of water from the drought-stressed Goulburn and Murray catchments,” he said.
The project went ahead and is now nearing completion with a $5M fund put in place to provide “compensation” to impacted communities.
Mr Calder said the Township Group had applied for funds to develop walking tracks around Yarra Glen in line with the Yarra Glen Recreation Master Plan and had generally supported other groups in their applications.
The second major project is the proposed Yarra Glen Truck Bypass.
“The reduction of movements of heavy traffic along Bell Street has been a long-standing wish of the people of Yarra Glen,” Mr Calder said.
He said following years of consultation and the assessment of several alternatives, a plan was approved and funded, with construction believed to be set to start in the next few weeks.
“It is the proposed roundabout at the southern end of Bell Street that has given the Township Group the greatest concern,” Mr Calder said. “We have held three meetings with planners from VicRoads and we are still waiting for the final plans to be presented.
He said the current preferred design would impact on traffic from the western half of the town wanting to go to the Yarra Glen Racing Centre, Healesville or Melbourne via the eastern suburbs.
The meeting will be held at 7pm at SVS Services in Bell Street, Yarra Glen on Thursday, 27 August.