BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
issue 1055 friday, february 2, 2018
butt out CBD smoke-free areas on way
By joel peterson
dressed to impress: Thinuja with her husband Dilini and son Manjuka. Photo: ANDREW PERRYMAN
Zinda festival adds to city’s culture THE Bendigo Festival of Cultures returns this year, renamed as Zinda. The new name was launched at an event last week, and was an introduction to the main event which runs from March 16 to 27. Zinda means alive or lively in five different languages – Urdu, Dari, Farsi, Bengali and Hindi.
■
Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services’ Kate McInnes said along with the name change they have adjusted the format of the festival. “Zinda-night in the park will now be the main event: a free, family friendly night out in Rosalind Park including multicultural music, food trucks and kids activities,” she said.
City swelters through record heat – Page 3
24 MTHS INTEREST
FREE!
*Conditions Apply. See instore for details.
AREAS of public space such as Hargreaves Mall could see smoking banned with a local laws review set to hand council the power to designate smoke free areas around the city. Councillors adopted changes to the local law at last week’s council meeting, and a draft copy of the policy has been put on public display. The changes include references to waste management, the control of vehicle sales on the side of roads and controlling advertising on road reserves. But the Hargreaves Mall could be affected under two of the more significant aspects of the law review. Council has assumed the power to declare areas of the municipality as smoke free under the changes. Healthy and safe environments manager Caroline Grylls said council currently has no areas earmarked for the change, but councillors had showed interest in giving council the power to declare smoke free areas. “If council identifies any councilowned or managed land, then there is a clearly defined process for us to make that change,” she said. “It has to be advertised, put into the government gazette and defined from a geographical and time perspective.” Ms Grylls said council would likely not make the change for events, as oneoff events made the regulation difficult to police. It may not be the only change made
■
to the mall, with traffic restrictions previously imposed under local laws lifted. The mall has remained a road even while closed to traffic, but was subject to local controls. That will change for it to be solely covered by standard road rules, opening up the possibility of traffic in the area in coming years. But Ms Grylls wrote that off as “a possibility and certainly not a plan”.
There is a... process for us to make that change “We don’t need any local laws for traffic in the mall because technically it is still a road,” she said. “It has always been a road, so we can just use the usual traffic control signs to control that area.” Council will also be able to penalise fitness operators using public spaces without a permit in a change in line with its Commercial Fitness Operators Policy. Any fitness operator requires a permit to use public spaces such as parks and reserves, but council had previously not been able to impose a penalty upon rogue operators. 4Continued Page 6
52-page Property Guide inside AMAZING COOLING DEAL Braemar Evaportative Cooling Fully installed to Five points
From
$3199 7 STANLEY STREET, BENDIGO
PH: 5444 4677
Local People, Local Service, Competitive Price...
WWW.SPECAIR.COM.AU