Adjournment by Christine Campbell in Parliament
Local MP Christine Campbell delivered an adjournment in State Parliament today.
Ms CAMPBELL (Pascoe Vale) – I raise a matter for the Minister for Planning. The action I seek is for him to respond positively to my call to establish a task force to investigate the impact of residential developments around the Edgars Creek and Merri Creek confluence and to identify opportunities to improve community amenity. The aim of the task force should be to ensure that public open space and bike path facilities are considered in the context of urban development, particularly increased urban development. This task force needs to be established in a timely fashion, and I suggest its first meeting be held in the first week of November and that ideally it be held in my electorate office.
For over three years I have met and worked with an amazing group of people, including community-minded individuals, the vibrant Friends of Edgars Creek, an array of dedicated Moreland council staff and of course the ever-focused Moreland council. Collectively they are driven by our need to retain in perpetuity the current open space affectionately known locally as Edgars Creek parklands. While Melbourne’s population has increased, the residential intensity around these parklands has increased through housing on the Pentridge site and projected residential increases around the Coburg 2020 precinct on the corner of Bell Street and Sydney Road, the old Coburg High School site and the old Kodak site. I thank the Minister for Planning and his staff for taking time to personally inspect the land in question with me and to learn of the need for this space to remain as public open space. Present and future locals who live around this valuable open space need the land for recreation, they need it for personal space and they need it to ensure that the residential amenity of Victoria and Moreland in particular is enhanced.
Earlier I outlined the array of dedicated people who have been working in this area over the last three years, and I think we are at a point where we are ready to bring this to some kind of conclusion. In my view it is important that the minister set up this task force in a timely fashion and that it be representative of interested parties.