A multimillionaire homeowner who attracted criticism for constructing a large retaining wall on a Melbourne foreshore without a permit is considering selling his beachfront property.
Gene Neill was issued a stop-work order from council for a seawall in front of his property along Frankston South foreshore.
Neill bought the seaside mansion in December last year, and by February he’d already begun building the wall, without the council’s approval.
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He said he was concerned about the safety of his home and was being refused insurance after two recent landslides on the peninsula.
“If you have a look here, as you can see it’s quite a serious landslide, and as you see what’s happened in McCrae, somebody’s lost their house,” Neill told 9News.
“It has to be done.”
Neill claims he decided to go ahead with the construction because other properties along the foreshore also had unapproved retaining walls.
“We’re pretty much the only house here without a seawall. Everyone else here has got protection, besides us,” he said.
“But we’ve gone way beyond what anyone else has done here.
”My understanding is you can’t get a permit so it’s a matter of, I just have to do it, we have to protect our home and that’s what we’re doing.”
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But Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke says his office has had more than 50 complaints since Friday, with locals concerned about the amount of vegetation being removed from the beach.
“We will not stand for this. People cannot just move into our area and in three months, destroy some of the most beautiful habitat in Frankston,” Edbrooke said.
“My biggest concern is the lack of any accountability from people that move into Frankston three months beforehand, and within three months we see 700 sqm of protected foreshore scrub gone.”
Officers from Frankston City Council have visited the site and officially ordered works to halt as the council investigates.
The council has warned if the stop-work order is breached it will be forced to consider legal action.
But Neill says he is now considering moving on from the multimillion-dollar property completely.
“I’m prepared to rip it all up and let nature do it’s thing and have more landslides until it reaches the house,” Neill said.
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