The Mornington Peninsula Shire council has welcomed a $2.19M Disaster Ready Fund (DRF) grant from the federal government to contribute to remediation and protection works for the Mount Martha Landslip. Council is also contributing $2.19M to this project.
The project will reinstate a local access road after it collapsed and slid onto The Esplanade beneath it. It will also stabilise the embankment and protect this section of road from future slippage onto the main road. Construction of engineered retaining walls will further reduce future risk to the area.
The landslip occurred in September 2020 when heavy rain caused an estimated 30 tonnes of material and vegetation to dislodge on the slope above the Esplanade, between Ellerina Road and Bradford Road.
The Shire immediately worked with the Victorian Department of Transport to make the site safe and investigate the best means to remediate the site.
After lengthy negotiations , the landslip works were planned to commence in the first half of 2023 under a joint co-funded arrangement between the Shire and State Government Department of Transport and Planning (DTP). Unfortunately funding from DTP was withdrawn and despite the Shire advocating to the Victoria Government for it to be reinstated the funding was unable to be recovered. Regrettably, the Shire was left with no alternative but to temporarily pause the project until alternative funding measures became available.
Despite this set back, the Shire has implemented a number of measures to improve access for both residents and through traffic.
Our successful application of the Federal DRF means the work can finally start.
Quotes attributable to Mayor Simon Brooks.
"With a $2M Shire commitment to contribute to these works, it has been disappointing that through our best efforts, we couldn't secure a fair share of state funding to start the project.
We are delighted we've been successful with this important grant application, and I thank our local Mount Martha residents for their advocacy efforts, the federal government for acknowledging the importance of this work and Emergency Management Victoria for helping to secure the grant.
Like us, I know the residents will be relieved that the works can finally start."
