Beaumaris Conservation Society

(Formerly Beaumaris Tree Preservation Society 1953-70)

Tel (03) 9589 1802                                                                                                                                                                      33 Clonmore Street

www.vicnet.net.au/-phillip/m8.htm                                                                                                                                        BEAUMARIS VIC 3193

44th Annual General Meeting, 26th November 1996

President’s Report

RE-INVIGORATION OF THE SOCIETY APPEARS LIKELY

Since our belated 1995 Annual General Meeting held earlier this year, the mood and reality of decline in the Society's fortunes has taken a dramatic turn for the better. After that meeting the remaining active members met to discuss how the decline, which threatened to lead to the winding up of the 43-year old society, could be reversed.

Key and continuing members in working for that reversal were the other three Office-bearers of the Society - Laurence Bottomley, Ken Rendell and Margaret Goode. They were joined by other members in the hour of need, who included Christopher Duffy and the former Sandringham Mayor, Anthony Reinhardt.

The first result was the calling of last Wednesday's Public Meeting, which very successfully drew the Society's plight to the attention of residents. Nearly 200 people attended that meeting, and the Society's membership was quadrupled to some 60 members.

It was very evident at the Public Meeting that residents want the Society to be re-invigorated, because they want the established treed nature of Beaumaris to be secure from the attacks and threats it is experiencing weekly, at an accelerating rate. Our Guest Speaker, Rob Gell, who is a qualified coastal geomorphologist, also served the Society well by stressing our record and role as a champion of local coastal protection against short-sighted municipal and governmental exploitation of our foreshore. Bayside Council is looking at cliff risks with a view to works there.

I pointed out that business of the 1996 Annual General Meeting and the 1996-67 Committee it elected - sustained by the active support of our increased membership when called upon - would include expressing forcefully and credibly the actions the Society wants from Bayside Council (particularly the 9 councillors to be elected in March 1997 for a 3-year term) and from the Victorian Government. The test of our re-invigoration will be the extent and success of our activities. My first suggestion is that we seek a deputation to the existing Commissioners to explain the policy in the letter on tree protection we sent recently. We may decide to have more than our usual single general meeting per year.

The Society also needs to consider whether it should take steps to become an incorporated association.

BCS POLICY ON PROTECTION OF TREES ON PRIVATE LAND

Copies of the letter the Society sent to Bayside Council are being circulated at this Annual Meeting. Development of this policy and its expression to the Council was the major work undertaken by the Committee, apart from the organization of the public meeting, since the last Annual Meeting.

TREE POLICY ON PUBLIC LAND (PARTICULARLY STREETS AND FORESHORE)

The Society is monitoring pressures (legal and illegal) from some groups of Beach Road residents to acquire clear views of the sea from their properties. Bayside Council is generally resisting their pressure, but it needs support from residents favouring tree cover. The Society's foundation, and continuous membership since it began, of the 26-yearold Port Phillip Conservation Council, a federation of 15 conservation bodies around Port Phillip, is important here.

Geoffrey Goode, President 26th November 1996