LANDSLIP at the end of KING STREET

We are asked many questions by locals about the King Street landslip. Please see below various correspondence FYI:
Letter written to the Premier and others by our committee member Neil Hallam:

The Hon. Dan Andrews,  Premier, Victoria.
Parliament House, Spring St Victoria

Dear Mr. Andrews,
I am writing to you in the hope that you can, by passing my enquiry to the appropriate people, provide some resolution to an ongoing problem at Flinders, on the Westernport side of the Mornington Peninsula.
Three to four years ago a section of the car park at the Southern end of King St Flinders slipped away and down the cliff. Erosion continued and over time a further 3x 20m sections disappeared downwards to the Ocean. Recently with storm water and diversion of the water from the street, further erosion and slippage is occurring. As far as I can determine  the area is managed by maybe  Parks Victoria, Vic Roads, the Mornington Peninsula Council and the Bass Park Trust, or, in this day and age “All of the above”.

The area is a parking area for surfers and tourists visiting the Ocean beach at Flinders by a track, to the ocean beach. Apart from some fluorescent tapes the area is a mess, an O.H & S danger, and has been like that for years while (as I understand it,) various entities pass the problem of dealing with it and its repair in meetings, with no resolution. I am asking if you can get some restoration of the area in place.

Neil Hallam

cc Hon Chris Brayne
Member for Nepean
cc. Cr. Anthony Marsh, Mayor, Mornington Peninsula Council, Cr. David Gill, Red Hill Ward, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council

Here is a response from Parks Victoria to a concerned community member who wrote to Parks Victoria to enquire about the land slip:

Thank you for your email which has been forwarded onto myself for response.

Parks Victoria are aware of the landslip issues and subsequent turbidity being experienced in the surrounding area at Flinders Ocean beach/Mushroom Reef Marine Sanctuary. At present mitigation works have focussed on limiting the input of street/surface and storm water / drainage runoff from the upper edge of the slip . Diversion spoon drains and culverts have been re-established along the cliff top edge in order to reduce this surface run off.

Direct intervention has been deemed not to be feasible at this stage as the landslip has made it to sea level and it is expected that for a period of time the toe of the mud slide, as well as some ongoing surface runoff, will be impacted by tides and wind surge until it dilutes and washes away the finer sediments leaving behind rock/gravel on the beach.

The nearby Marine Sanctuary is in a highly dynamic ocean wave and current environment and it is expected that the turbidity effects are likely only to be of a temporary and transient nature.  Please note that following heavy rain, the adjacent Double Creek also contributes a plume of significant turbid fresh water into this marine environment.

Mornington Peninsula Shire Council have also recently improved the King Street stormwater diversion at the top of the landslip to reduce the volume of surface runoff water going directly into the exposed and unstable ground,

Thanks,

Parks Victoria 

FYI :  The FCA understands that any turbid run off from Double Creek into the ocean close to Mushroom Reef has been going on for millenia. The King St run off and slippage has only occurred this winter. The resulting mess cannot be so lightly dismissed as normal, so we are pursuing the various authorities  to try and establish responsibility although we understand it may be impossible to fix.