Clean up village or else!

By Jim Mynard
BERWICK Village commercial operators will be given one last chance to clean up the commercial garbage mess in the shopping centre.
Chamber of commerce members were on Monday night told that a council managed collection system would be introduced under a special charge.
This follows years of lobbying by the chamber of commerce and a $40,000 consultant’s report on commercial waste in the City of Casey.
However, Casey’s manager of engineering services, David Richardson, said both the chamber and the council had faced difficulty introducing the proposed scheme.
Mr Richardson said expressions of interest were called for a provider to service Berwick Village and six other centres in Casey.
“We received one strong tender but that was nonconforming and the system was unlikely to proceed across the municipality because of costing.
“The council has considered concentrating on Berwick Village where a new system would be compulsory.
“All businesses would contribute through a special charge but this idea would need strong chamber of commerce support and a planning subcommittee would be needed.
“We would need to meet with and discuss the proposal with 170 businesses.”
He said the system would involve two compounds on the south side and one on the north side of the commercial centre.
“These would be emptied six days a week and cleaned,” he said.
He said business people would take their rubbish to the central disposal areas and trucks would come to the village outside trading hours.
Mr Richardson said if a majority of business people objected to the plan then the scheme would be dead.
“If we have support from business we can approve it,” he said.
Edrington Ward councillors Mick Morland and Brian Hetherton expressed strong support for the Berwick plan.
Cr Morland said the only problem was live contracts between business houses and various waste collectors.
He said a situation could emerge where a business was paying the council rate and a charge under a signed contract with a contractor.
Cr Morland said rationalisation of commercial garbage collection had to happen and that Berwick Village was the place to do it.
“The present situation is messy and dangerous,” he said.
Cr Hetherton said he had listened to criticism about the untidy mess in Berwick Village for a long time.
“The village looks disgraceful and we have only one option to tidy it up,” he said.
“If this is not accepted this time it will never be applied again.
“Traders have to consider whether or not they want their shopping precinct cleaned up and improved.
“This is not a large cost scheme but it is up to the chamber of commerce to decide whether the village wants it or not.
“Getting this part of the business sector cleaned up could be a strong marketing program for business,” Cr Hetherton said.
“Residents deserve this mess to be cleaned up.
“We have a chance – for heaven’s sake take it.”