By BEN CAMERON
A BUNYIP resident is fuming that a Cardinia Shire Council-owned parcel of land adjacent to his property has been left unmaintained over summer despite council auditing properties shire-wide for potential fire threats.
Stephen Peterson has accused council of a “whole summer of inaction” over the several acre paddock on Wattletree Road containing dangerously overgrown grass.
It comes after council completed its shire-wide fire hazard property inspection program on 23 March, involving over 43,000 inspections throughout the Fire Danger Period.
A total of 479 Fire Prevention Notices and 70 forced clearance and infringements were issued.
Mr Peterson said he first called council about the land on 28 August, well ahead of the fire season.
Port Ward Councillor David Young inspected the paddock personally about a week later.
“He explained that they would most likely mow breaks rather than the whole paddock, but he knew the break adjacent to my fence was my primary concern,” he said.
However, Mr Peterson claims nothing has been done since, and the grass is now as high as his fence “falling over, matted and thicker than ever”.
He received an email on 3 February from council, saying the site was “on the schedule to be done”.
“I have rung and left messages several times since his visit but no reply as yet,” he said.
“At the very least, it needs a fire break along the fence line. It’s very overgrown.”
In an email to council in November, he was bemused why an adjacent park had been mown but not the paddock.
“The fire risk is worsening every day, so please find out why the delay on my initial call to council offices,” he wrote.
Mr Peterson even offered to mow the grass himself once a fortnight.
“I can annex a large area of council land by fencing it off and maintaining it for free. Next door has been doing this for the last 15 years quite satisfactorily,” he said.
“(Or) you can take some action immediately.
“After the recent fires of previous years, local residents are living in fear of what another bad summer might bring.”
Council Open Space Team leader Kevin Alexander said the area in question was definitely on council’s mowing program.
“This includes a regular mow of the BMX area and a seasonal fuel break slash around the boundary of the natural areas,” Mr Alexander said.
“In late February, the fuel breaks at this location were reviewed and an extra area was added to the works program.
“Typically, fuel breaks are slashed four times a year, with the bulk of the service prior to the summer period and reflective of grass going seasons.
“As the summer period draws to a close, we always review the season’s activities, this includes the opportunity to review fuel breaks and consider if they need any modification for the next year’s summer period.”
