Paths call to link town

By Bridget Cook
CASEY councillor Geoff Ablett has called for a review of the lack of footpaths in Junction Village, with the small town only having one strip.
At last week’s council meeting, Cr Ablett asked for a report to come back to the council to see if Junction Village fitted into the criteria for the ‘Linking Path’s program.
If so the council would fund more footpaths in the area.
Cr Ablett, who is a Junction Village resident, said almost every night when he drove home he saw someone walking on the road or grass.
“I often see families having to walk on the road, as well as kids, and sometimes mums trying to push prams along the grass,” he said.
“There’s only one section of footpath in the whole town. There should at least be footpaths on one side of the roads.”
Cr Ablett said the current situation was dangerous.
“There are always cars parked along each side of the road,” he said. “People walking on roads with cars, don’t mix.We need to get people off the road and onto footpaths.”
Botanic Garden Retirement Village resident committee chairmen Les Smith, which is located at Junction Village, said more footpaths would be a great asset.
“It would be a definite asset to the village to have a footpath down at least one side of the street,” he said. “People from our village have experienced a number of near misses. Several times cars haven’t noticed us when we are walking down the road. It’s very dangerous.”
Mr Smith said at the moment the town was also isolated.
“We need a connection so we can get into Cranbourne, our city centre,” he said. “The current situation has caused many people to stop going any distance.”
The report is expected to come back to council within the next four weeks.
“I’m 100 per cent confident the council officers will came back and say we need footpaths in Junction Village,” Cr Ablett said.