Beach box owners fight council’s $241 rubbish collection fee
Beach box owners in these exclusive Mornington Peninsula suburbs already pay up to $900,000 for their slice of seaside real estate. And now, they’re fighting a whopping rubbish collection charge which has been slammed as a “rip-off”.
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Beach box owners who pay up to $900,000 for their slice of seaside real estate are fighting a new $241 rubbish collection charge.
The Mornington Peninsula Beach Box Association has filed a Supreme Court writ against the council’s charge.
The group, which represents 800 of the peninsula’s 1300 beach box owners from Mt Eliza to Portsea, claim the charge is a rip-off.
Christopher Maine, president of the owners’ association, said the council was wrong to add the charge to the fees beach box owners already paid.
‘NOTHING’ FOR TOURISTS AT BEACH BOXES
“The defendant (Mornington Peninsula Shire Council) does not provide waste management services, including collection and disposal, to licensed beach box sites located on the Mornington Peninsula foreshore,” Mr Maine said in an affidavit.
“In the absence of a waste disposal and collection service to beach box sites or the provision of bins to the sites, the owners of the beach box are paying for a service which they do not receive.”
The charge was introduced after a council vote in June for a rubbish collection fee to be levied on all properties that pay rates to the council.
The association complained to the council in October. A Supreme Court writ was filed on October 11 as the group was not satisfied with the council’s response.
Meredith Lyons, of Camberwell, who is named as the plaintiff in the court claim, said the beach box owners were stunned at the new charges when the council did not collect their bins.
“We pay rates and a fee to the foreshore committee of several hundreds of dollars a year,” she said.
“It’s just not logical, they say they are going to charge us but not provide the service.
“It’s like me saying I’m going to mow your front lawn but I have no intention of mowing it at all.”
Beach boxes are a unique part of the Victorian beach life, with the small beach sheds regularly selling for more than the price of a suburban house.
BOAT SHED LISTED FOR $1 MILLION
A beach shed at Portsea on the Fisherman’s Beach foreshore was listed for sale for between $910,000 and $1 million this week.
Boatshed 17 has been in the same family since 1950, and is described as an “extra large, elevated boat shed” on a stretch of beach often referred to as the French Riveria of the southern peninsula.
The previous record sale for a beach box on that strip was $800,000, which was sold a decade ago.