Grovedale residents fight for footpath on busy thoroughfare leading to parks and shops

A group of Grovedale residents are calling for a footpath on a busy thoroughfare to prevent people with prams, walkers and wheelchairs walking on the road.

Grovedale residents Phoebe Thompson, Kylie, Dave Favetta, Stephen Salter, Hannah Dodds, Janice Salter and Jess Bennett are concerned about the lack of footpaths on the Heyers Rd end of Coolabah Drive. Picture: Alan Barber.

                               

Grovedale residents say they are being forced to walk on a road, creating an unsafe situation for people with prams and young children on bikes or scooters.

There is no footpath on either side of Coolabah Drive from the edge of Coolabah Park to Heyers Rd.

Mum-of-two Hannah Dodds has helped create a petition that asks council to install a footpath.

“Since starting the petition we’ve had people reach out that they have to push their elderly parents in wheelchairs on the road because it is not safe on the paths,” she said.

“Everyone is having to push their prams on the roads, too.

“For people walking on the nature strips, it’s really uneven, there’s tonnes of holes hidden underneath the grass.”

A similar petition was also lodged in 2021.

Ms Dodds said council had previously indicated that each household fronting the proposed new footpaths would have to pay up to $4000 each.

“It’s just super dangerous, it’s an imminent threat that someone will be hit,” she said.

“People have been begging for this footpath for years and it still hasn’t been done.”

Phoebe Thompson and baby Aurora where the footpath on Coolabah Drive suddenly finishes. Picture: Alan Barber.

City Hall’s executive director of city infrastructure James Stirton said council welcomed a petition to support a footpath upgrade under a future special charge scheme.

“In 2021 and 2022, in response to resident requests, the City of Greater Geelong engaged

with property owners living in the section of Coolabah Drive between Alambee Ave and

Heyers Rd to ascertain whether they would like a footpath on Coolabah Drive and if they

would be willing to pay for this through a special charge scheme,” he said.

“There was insufficient support demonstrated for a footpath to be constructed during both of

these engagements.”

Mr Stirton said council required subdivisions to be appropriately serviced with footpaths, however, existing infrastructure was not always subject to the current high standards.

He said there were legacy examples where existing infrastructure did not meet contemporary provision standards, but council sought to work with property owners to fund suitable upgrades.

Grovedale resident Phoebe Thompson said there was no convenient way to access the park.

“I have a pram that I have to push down a hill on the road because there is no footpath and an almost eight-year-old who likes to ride her bike or scooter,” she said.

“The footpath is there for a part of the block with the park and then it just stops, it doesn’t even make it to the corner and then you cross the road and there’s no footpath on either side.

“It’s quite a popular playground and we would like to have a safe place to walk.”

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology, then edited and approved for publication by an editor.

Originally published as Grovedale residents fight for footpath on busy thoroughfare leading to parks and shops