Council meeting recap - 10 August, 2021

Community members on roads in Badger Creek, Seville and Lilydale will be notified of Council’s intention to levy a Special Charge to seal their roads, as part of the Federal Government-funded Roads for the Community Program.

Councillors discussed several projects at their Tuesday meeting, where Council proposes levying special charges to construct roads as part of Roads for the Community.

The roads discussed at the meeting were:

• Old Gippsland Road (West of Hillside Court) in Lilydale
• The Roma Avenue Road Group in Badger Creek
• The Russell Road Group in Seville
• Mont Vue in Lilydale

The Roads for the Community Program is a $150m Federal Government-funded program to seal roads across Yarra Ranges.

Traditionally, sealing of unsealed roads is done via a Special Charge Scheme, where Council and property owners on the affected roads both contribute to the construction cost, with property owners repaying their contribution through the property rates over 10 years.

The Federal funding will subsidise community member contributions for the sealing the roads, dramatically reducing the out-of-pocket costs for property owners and enabling Council to seal more than 100 kilometres of unsealed roads.

Community members on the above roads will be contacted in writing, informing them of Council's intention to levy a special charge.

Find out more about the program - and the priority roads we've proposed for construction - here

Council will write to the State Government, raising concerns with the proposed closure of the level crossing on Cave Hill Road, Lilydale.

On 29 July, Council was informed of the closure of the Cave Hill Road, Lilydale, railway crossing through a public announcement by the State Government.

Council has been working with the Level Crossing Removal Authority on design for the removal of the level crossings at Maroondah Highway in Lilydale and Manchester Road in Mooroolbark. Through this work, Council staff highlighted the need for a solution at the Cave Hill Road level crossing that separated road traffic and the railway line. 

The crossing is used daily by community members accessing the industrial estate on Melba Avenue, by school, community and industry traffic accessing Lilydale High School, the former Lilydale Quarry site and Box Hill Institute.

Community feedback gathered in 2019 indicated that community members wanted to continue using Cave Hill Road for access, raising concerns of traffic congestion and difficulties with access if the level crossing became closed to traffic.

It is Council's view that closing the Cave Hill Road railway crossing will create significant access and congestion issues in Hutchinson Street and Melba Avenue, and the State Government's decision to close this crossing without consulting community members does not show proper regard to the needs of the community.

Councillors voted in favour of writing to the State Government expressing these concerns and requesting the development of a comprehensive traffic study for the area that reconsiders the announced closure.