Library amnesty

An unmade and unused government road at Longwarry will be re-opened.

Baw Baw Shire Council has agreed to the request of a landowner to reopen the road, which is located between 400 Longwarry Drouin Road Drouin and 340 Longwarry Drouin Road Longwarry.

As a government road, council cannot sell the road or issue licenses over it.

However, under the Local Government Act, council has the responsibility to maintain the road and the powers to discontinue or open the road.

Officers received a request from the purchaser of 400 Longwarry Drouin Road Longwarry to open the road and provide direct access to the property being purchased which otherwise would be landlocked.

Council officers will meet with neighbouring

West Gippsland Libraries is offering an amnesty on outstanding library fees throughout February.

Anyone who visits their local library during the month can opt to have their overdue library fines waived with no questions asked.

Lapsed library members, or members who have lost their library cards are also welcome to visit the library and receive a replacement card at no extra cost.

West Gippsland Libraries chief executive officer Leanne Williams encouraged the community to make the most of the amnesty period.

“West Gippsland Libraries strives to be accessible for the whole community and we want everyone to feel encouraged to make use of their local library. Forgiving fines during February will help to remove any barriers that may prevent people from accessing the services we offer.

“This is also a great chance for the community to return any old library books, DVDs or other items that they might have at home without having to bear the cost of overdue fees,” Ms Williams said.. property owners to inform them of the request and potential impact to them.

A report to council said some years ago the road was formally identified by council as not required for public use which enabled DELWP to issue grazing licenses over portions of the road to abutting property owners.

Consequently, there are now three DELWP licenses in place along this length of road with separate parties.

The road is currently fenced within the boundary of neighbouring properties and is treed in some sections.

To open the road, a resolution by council that determines the road is reasonably required for public use is needed. This resolution will deem Council then responsible to keep the road open for public use and arrange for removal of any obstacles under the Land Act.

Once resolved, DELWP will rescind two of the licenses held by neighbouring property owners over the road and each property owner will need to fence the boundary of their property. These are approximately 405 and 250 metre lengths respectively.

Two of the property owners will lose their grazing licences. The remaining licence is held by the vendor of the land and will transfer to the purchaser upon sale.

Cr Peter Kostos said this affected several neighbouring properties.

However, he said the purchaser would be required to enter into a section 173 agreement which would impose a number of conditions requiring them to:

Construct and maintain the road and crossing to an all weather surface;

Meet all vegetation removal, disposal and associated planning permit, and building permit application costs;

Meet the cost of all legal and associated expenses;

Fence the roadside boundaries where required to fully contain the road outside the neighbouring properties; and

Not fence across or otherwise obstruct the road, nor restrict access to neighbouring properties.

Cr Michael Leaney said there would be no cost to council to re-open this road.