{"id":280972,"date":"2025-11-13T03:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T03:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/280972\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T03:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T03:59:11","slug":"unauthorised-excavator-damages-beach-near-olivers-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/280972\/","title":{"rendered":"Unauthorised excavator damages beach near Olivers Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March, Neill said<\/a> he would adhere to a council-issued stop-work order and eventually rip out the seawall in front of his $9.25 million home after a public backlash to early works surprised him.<\/p>\n

By July, The Age reported<\/a> that Frankston City Council had resolved to launch enforcement proceedings over the unauthorised seawall and serve Neill with a formal legal letter.<\/p>\n

\"Gene<\/p>\n

Gene Neill\u2019s seawall, which has been developed further despite the owner previously saying he was going to rip it out.Credit: Joe Armao<\/p>\n

However, the wall has since been developed further, with a new ramp and rocks added, and the council has refused to provide details about the status of enforcement proceedings.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the legal and privacy sensitivities, council cannot comment on individual properties or active compliance matters,\u201d interim chief executive Cam Arullanantham said in a statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the department, which ultimately owns the Crown land that council manages, similarly declined to comment further.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegarding the neighbouring unauthorised seawall, DEECA is investigating enforcement options,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The wall first attracted council attention in February, and more than 50 people reportedly complained to Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke\u2019s office on the first weekend of March.<\/p>\n

Neill defended pushing ahead with the project at the time, pointing to the long-standing walls of some neighbours.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s wall along the foreshore is illegal,\u201d he said in March. \u201cIf they let everyone else do it along here, I\u2019ve got to be able to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued it was too difficult to get government approval, which is required under the Marine and Coastal Act.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An excavator appears to be visible behind a tree near the Kackeraboite Creek Beach on Tuesday, but this masthead cannot confirm it was the machine which conducted unauthorised works on the public beach on Sunday.Credit: Joe Armao<\/p>\n

Rising sea levels from climate change are expected to worsen erosion and threaten homes across Port Phillip Bay<\/a> over coming decades, increasing pressure to protect seaside infrastructure.<\/p>\n

However, some locals, including Labor MP Paul Edbrooke, have taken issue with the unauthorised nature of Neill\u2019s seawall and the brazen damage to native vegetation and Crown land.<\/p>\n

Edbrooke said that while the beach in front of Neill\u2019s home was \u201cnot the prettiest\u201d, it was still public and used for activities such as dog walking.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In March, Neill said he would adhere to a council-issued stop-work order and eventually rip out the seawall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-280972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}