Facelift drives ahead

PAKENHAM’S golf club is set for a facelift after a planning permit for earthworks was approved.
At a Cardinia Shire Council meeting on Monday night, a motion was carried to support the planning permit.
The application included earthworks to the dam and practice fairway.
“This application is the second, amended application after the first one, which had more extensive earthworks applied for,” Cr Blenkhorn said.
“The proposal is for the contractor to bring clean fill and put it in particular sites.”
Cr Blenkhorn said the practice fairway had large pine trees to be removed if the planning application went through and that the golf club would need to adhere to certain conditions set out by the council.
“The main concern is drainage,” he said. A second application is expected to go before the council in the coming weeks.
The 48 hectare site is owned by the council and borders Oaktree Drive and the Old Princes Highway to the north.
In February, residents met with the president of the golf club Rob Nobelius to voice their concerns about the beautification project.
Russell Pickton, who lives along Oaktree Drive, said a group of residents had formed an unofficial committee to engage with the council and the golf club.
“We will be working with them and plan to be highly involved in the future,” he said.
Twenty objections had been received by the council after the application was advertised.
The original application included fill along the Oaktree Drive boundary which has since been amended.