Cranbourne North resident Russell Pearce’s battle with Stockland is finally over about whether or not his fence needed to come down to make way for a footpath. 76513 Picture: Meagan Rogers
By Bridget Cook
WHEN a tradesman turned up at Russell Pearce’s home on Tuesday to tear down his fence, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
The Cranbourne North man has been battling with property group Stockland for almost 10 months to ensure his fence was not pulled down to make way for the construction of about 30 metres of footpath next to his home.
Mr Pearce said he had been getting mixed messages since April last year from the City of Casey and Stockland about whether his fence would need to come out.
“After numerous phone calls, in April last year we wrote a letter to Stockland asking them if they could complete the footpath,” he said.
Mr Pearce said he later heard back from Stockland which said his side fence would have to come down to make way for the footpath.
“Naturally I objected,” he said.
“We have a lovely garden inside and we wouldn’t want it exposed.”
Mr Pearce said he then contacted Casey council which informed him that Stockland could narrow the footpath instead.
“Stockland wouldn’t accept that, though,” he said.
“I even had one woman from Stockland agree that the fence didn’t need to come down.
“Then I had someone come here today ready to take my fence down.”
When the News contacted Stockland this week, a spokesperson said the company had been advised by the council that the width of the footpath can be reduced.
“Which would mean we would not need to touch the resident’s fence, which was always our preference,” the spokesperson said.
“We had met with the home owner to discuss options to minimise the inconvenience to them and we had always intended to pay for all associated works in the event that the fence had to be brought down temporarily.”
