Council hits campers with fines
CAMPERS flouting local laws by setting up at Eastern Beach have been hit with $300 fines.
Three fines were issued on Sunday morning when local laws officers hit the area after campers were seen on CCTV and by security patrols.
Geelong resident Bernadette Uzelac said she saw two groups of “a couple of dozen each” at Eastern Beach about 11.15pm on Saturday.
“People in one group (near the kids’ pool) were shining torches into small dome tents,” the former Geelong Chamber of Commerce CEO said.
“You could tell they were trying to put kids to sleep.
“Other adults were in the kids’ pool making a lot of noise. They had a music box inside the kids’ pool area and they were drinking alcohol.”
Photos show tents and gazebos set up well past sunset on Saturday and at 7am on Sunday. The Addy has received multiple reports of illegal campers at Eastern Beach including about 50 on January 1, according to a resident who took pictures at the time.
Ms Uzelac, now a member of the Kardinia Park Stadium Trust, said the council must step up patrols of grassed areas at Eastern Beach at night to catch illegal campers.
“There needs to be more patrolling. Nobody needs a sun tent at midnight,” she said.
On Sunday, the council said “multiple” patrols of the area “between dusk and dawn” were under way.
The City of Greater Geelong has promised to crack
down on camping at Eastern Beach after multiple reports of large groups setting up tents, gazebos and even mattresses to stay in the area overnight.
Ms Uzelac said she saw a group camping on the grassed area near Ritchie Boulevard at 11.15pm on Saturday and again at 7am on Sunday.
“An extra tent had popped up overnight. There were five tents that people were sleeping in,” she said.
“We have seen it on multiple occasions. The local residents have had enough of it.”
Geelong council’s planning director Gareth Smith said private security was regularly patrolling the area.
“City local laws officers and police attended the site early on Sunday morning and city officers issued infringements,” Mr Smith said.
“We have put in place a range of additional security and patrolling measures, including CCTV and private security to monitor any potential camping activity at Eastern Beach.”
Ms Uzelac said the group set up near the kids’ pool on Saturday night had left by Sunday morning.
She said a bylaw should be introduced that prevented tents or other structures being erected at Eastern Beach after sunset and before sunrise.