Council Childcare fees - report requested

At tonight's (Tuesday) Council meeting I requested a report on childcare fees detailing the following information-

a/ childcare fees currently charged and 2012 fee schedule for all childcare service providers in Glen Eira

b/ childcare fees currently charged and 2012 fee schedule for all surrounding Councils

c/ rankings of Glen Eira's childcare fees currently charged and our 2012 fee schedule against both the above criteria.

In the June budget Council passed the full increase of new staff ratios in 2012 onto parents.
As outlined in previous postings I spoke of the concern that our Council's fees next year will place us at the higher end of the market and not in the middle range as has been the case previously.

This may also be placing our local families in an increasingly more difficult situation in being able to afford and access council's childcare services.

I will look forward to recieving the reports findings

Progressive Policies this term in Glen Eira

With local government elections due in October 2012 thought it a good time to reflect on some of the new initiatives/policies that have been highlights of this term so far and that have been featured in previous postings. They all have strong environmental, economic and community features.

Bicycling Strategy - first strategy in a decade - fully funded ($2m) and implemented over the next 3/4 years-will improve and enhance amnenity and safety for all forms of transport.

Bin Downsizing - by reducing to a predominantly 120 litre rubbish bin our council has moved from having one of the worst diversion to landfill rates to a median range across the metro area- the very sucessfull uptake of this scheme has also significantly increased our recycling and green waste rates. With landfill state charges skyrocketing this change has saved GE in the order of $300k pa.

Carbon Reduction Plan - first ever plan -draft currently out for community comment.

Childcare - first time funds ($1.6m) in over a decade allocated for new facilities- to replace existing centre at Elsternwick and sorely needed with the lack of childcare in the area.

Caulfield Racecourse - for the first time in agreement with the MRC a public park and amenities is being developed in the centre of the course- whilst acknowledging there are shortcomings,this is still a significant improvement.

Ewaste - first time this problem has been recognised and addressed with three successful collection days held over the past year and further actions listed in the ESS (Environmental Sustainability Strategy) for this year.

Energy Efficiency - for the first time an energy audit was conducted on six major council sites resulting in measures fully implemented that increased efficiency by upto 30% and reduced costs.

Tree Protection Register - first time tree protection on private property endorsed-register guidelines being developed at present.

Streetlighting - $2m allocated over next two years for changeover to energy efficient T5 globes across whole municipality; will reduce council's emissions by upto 14%. On current rising electricity costs- a payback period of 6/7 years is envisaged.

Sustainable Transport Strategy- first time a strategy has been developed-moves focus away from cars and importantly includes a walking strategy component. This is a very timely with traffic congestion an ever increasing problem.

All these initiatives I feel will be of great benefit to our communities especially in the years ahead and the whole Councillor group deserve credit for supporting these important changes.

Environment Forum held last Wednesday

The Glen Eira Community Environment forum an annual event was held last Wednesday night at the Town Hall.

Whilst the numbers in attendance were slightly less than in previous years the interest, expertise and passion was as high as ever!

Five broad themes were canvassed and discussed with valuable input from all present.
They were greenhouse emissions, waste management, biodiversity, water conservation and community education.
The issues surrounding these important aspects were highlighted and prioritised.

The feeling amongst many of those present was that Glen Eira is making significant progress compared to several years ago and that the level of discussion and input from the community is now more highly recognised and valued.

One of new initiatives will be a forum solely on biodiversity scheduled for early 2012.

All the suggestions and priorities raised at the forum will be assessed by the environment committee for possible recommendation to Council as part of next years Environmental Sustainabilty Strategy (ESS).

Level Crossing workshop - more talk?

Recently Vicroads has been widely letter dropping in all the affected areas details of a forum/workshop they are conducting at Carnegie Library on Tues 6th September 630-830pm on level crossings on the Dandenong line.

All local residents in the area know this is the biggest issue in the area right thru from Caulfield to Oakleigh and Im not sure of the value of further 'workshops' -
Everyone knows what the problem is and what the solution is.

There needs to be a solid committment by the State Govt to fund this grade separation as soon as possible - Presently for the M/Beena rd crossing re previous posting there is $2.5m allocated to plan/study in this term and a further $150m if re-elected in 2014.Will be interested to see the outcomes of these workshops,

Community Environment forum Wed 31st Aug

The 2011 Glen Eira Community Environment Forum will be held on Wednesday 31st August 730pm in the Caulfield Cup room at the town hall - cnr of Hawthorn and Glen Eira rds. - all welcome!

This is an important annual forum that will provide many of the priorities and actions for next years Environment Sustainability Strategy (ESS). It is also important to hear feedback on how the current ESS is performing and what changes are required to produce more effective results.

Recently Council has dealt with issues around public open spece, tree protection, including better environmental design in planning applications and sustainable transport and these and others are sure to be dicussed on the night.

The draft Carbon Reduction plan is currently out for public scrutiny until Sept 6th and this forum will provide further opportunity for comment.

The current ESS is listed in links bottom right.

draft Carbon Reduction plan released

At last Tuesday's meeting Glen Eira's first draft Carbon Reduction plan was released for a 28 day public submission and comment period.

The plan is Item 9.3 in the minutes bottom right of screen.

In moving this motion and welcoming public comment, I outlined in my view the strengths and weaknneses of the draft plan- On the plus side the street light changeover over the next two years (reducing council's emission by 11-14%) is a major step forward with $2m budgeted over the next two year to change to more energy efficient T5 globes.

Other measures articulated in the action plan include the purchasing of hybrid council vehicles, Greenpower for 25% of councils electricity needs, increasing the uptake of the Eco-Buy purchasing program by 10% each year and utilising best practise low emmission manufactures concrete.

The Sports and Aquatic centre (GESAC) at Bentleigh about to come online presents a challenge in managing emmissions. This 24/7 facility will be powered primarily by convential sources ie brown coal- In the design of this facilty there is capacity to transform to co-generation energy sourcing and I will certainly be advocating for this in future years.

The major flaw with the plan as I see it is a lack of targets and vision about where GEs emissions should and will be in future- despite the actions it would seem to be an ever increasing upward trend!- will look forward to comments.


The annual Evironment Community Forum will be held on Wed 31st August 7pm Caulfield Cup room -

Back on line on Thurs 11th Aug

Will be back on line after a short break with all the news on Thursday 11th Aug,
Cheers Neil