Vincent Cr Suzanne Worner, residents Steve Burke, Ray Stevenson and Suzanne Burke, and Cr Ross Ioppolo.

A WEE win in Vincent’s war on water was marked last weekend when residents gathered to celebrate a new floodwall at Beatty Park.

It’s been a long campaign by residents to get a wall to prevent run-off from the park, starting shortly after homes on Emmerson Street were flooded in the great storm of 2010. 

They came close to similar flooding catastrophes in later years. Residents spent some rainy nights unclogging drains in the carpark between the park and their properties to keep their homes dry.

An expert’s consultant report in 2017 recommended a wall to prevent park runoff from hitting homes, but the plan seemed to be forgotten for years.

Residents Steve and Suzanne Burke and Ray Stevenson kept up the campaign with many delegations to council requesting the work be completed. 

They’ve credited the efforts of the three newest councillors who were elected in 2021, Ron Alexander, Ross Ioppolo and Suzanne Worner, for getting the wall across the line. 

A motion moved by Cr Alexander to get on and build the wall won unanimous support from council in April 2022.

“This is our grand opening of our 10-year wall,” Mr Burke said last weekend. “I’d like to thank Suzanne [Worner] and Ross [Ioppolo] and also Ron [Alexander] … for all their efforts to get it where it is.”

by DAVID BELL