Open road

By Bridget Cook
Following the final consultation period, Greater Dandenong councillors voted to keep Herbert Street open at all times at Monday night’s council meeting.
Last year, the council closed Herbert Street to traffic during school hours as part of a six-month trial to allow safe access across Herbert Street between the existing Dandenong High School and the new Cleeland Secondary College campus, both part of the newly amalgamated Dandenong High School.
At the end of the trial, the council chose to continue with the street closure as the option for the final consultation process, with buses an exception.
But residents were up in arms over the recommendation; instead preferring to keep the street open at all times and put in place traffic calming measures.
Almost 950 questionnaires were sent out to affected stakeholders of the closure as part of the final consultation process.
The local community has spoken, with 772 of the responses coming back against the closure.
As a result, the council voted to re-open the street to traffic at all times and instead put traffic calming and management measures in place.
The school and Education Department preferred to keep the road closed for the safety of its students.
However, resident argued that the closure was an inconvenience and provided difficulties for the bus service.
Herbert Street resident Linda Meurs said she was thrilled with the end result.
“It’s absolutely great, the residents are really happy … we finally got what we wanted,” she said.
“We worked hard to get this and eventually won, that’s the main thing.”
Councillor Angela Long, who has been a strong advocate for the residents, said she was thrilled that it would be re-opened.
“It’s a win-win situation for the school, safety of the children and the residents having the road open,” she said.
Having fought to keep the road closed, Cr Peter Brown said while he voted to re-open the road at the past council meeting, he still believed it was not the best option.
“I’ve exhausted every measure to keep this road closed,” he said.
“For me there’s a degree of disappointment. I don’t think the safety of the children has been put first … the safety of the children is still a concern.”