Healesville? No rubbishville

By Kath Gannaway
Val Owen said she had observed the standard of maintenance falling over a long period and had made regular contact with the shire to report her concerns but had seen no improvement or action taken even on specific complaints.
She identified River Street as one of the worst areas of the town. “This is the main walkway for visitors staying at the RACV Club and it’s just a mess,” she said.
“Trees are falling on a regular basis and it’s surprising that no-one has been killed.”
She pointed to fallen trees and branches which had been cut and left on the roadside which are now overgrown with weeds, weeds growing in the drains which trap litter when it rains and a carpet of dead weeds which have been sprayed as part of the shire’s weed eradication program but never removed.
“The only response to my complaints about River Street is that the shire has put up weeds eradication signs. For the cost of those signs they could have cleaned up the dead weeds,” Mrs Owen said.
Scotch thistles a metre high in Queen’s Park, treated pine barriers which have been left broken for months, weeds growing up around street signs, grass and plants growing across walking paths are just a few of the things Mrs Owen says she has complained to the shire about but to no avail.
Former Healesville Shire councillor and Toolangi resident Geoff Biggs is also critical of maintenance saying the town is a disgrace.
“No one comes through and sweeps the gutters in the main street regularly like they used to,” Mr Biggs said.
Both say the town’s status as a tourist town is at odds with the level of maintenance it receives.
“Myers Creek Road is one of the shire’s major tourist roads and it’s a total disgrace,” Mr Biggs said.
“The table drains and shoulders of the road have not been cleaned for goodness knows how long. When you’re pushing tourism, it is no incentive for anyone to drive up here.”
Mrs Owen said the recent launch of the new Yarra Valley tourism brochure was an example of huge amounts of money being spent to promote the area and very little being spent on maintaining the image.
“It’s ludicrous to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars when you walk off the main street and see this sort of thing,” she said indicating garden beds fully overgrown with weeds in the town’s main parking area.
Yarra Ranges manager of community relations James Martin said the shire puts a high priority into maintenance of all townships but said there might be areas where it could do better.
He said the Christmas period has been particularly difficult with staff on leave and away for other reasons and it had been difficult to get relief staff.
Funding was also an issue, he said. “We’re certainly not a growing population so the rate base is static and it’s always a challenge to be able to provide better infrastructure.
“We like to think we do what we believe is a very good job but there are always ways of improving things.”
Mr Martin said the Shire was always happy to receive feedback on specific areas that might require attention.