Wow!  We had a great show of community interest in keeping this parkland for the people.  Approximately 250 people (and about 40 dogs!) attended the meeting and walk in the park.  The meeting heard from federal and state members of parliament Kelvin Thompson, Carlo Carli, Christine Campbell and Colleen Hartland.  Local councillors Mark O’Brien, Daniel De Lorenzis and Mark Higginbotham were also present, showing their support.

Mr Carli and Ms Campbell told the meeting they are actively campaigning within the Brumby Government to bring about the transfer of the land to the City of Moreland. Ms Hartland will be addressing a series of questions to the Government this week to ascertain why the transfer has remained unresolved since 2006.  MECPG chairperson Greg Carden also addressed the meeting, speaking to concerns of residents.

“Residential development in this flood-prone parkland will be an environmental disaster. Development of the land will also drastically reduce Coburg’s public open space at a time when thousands of new residents are moving in to the Kodak and Pentridge developments. This park should be the centrepiece of a revitalised Coburg” said Mr Carden. 

MECPG will continue to campaign for the retention of the single largest piece of public open space in Moreland. “The fact 250 people turned out on a Sunday morning really demonstrates how much the people of Coburg value this space. We will continue to fight until the state government ensures this urban jewel is protected for this and future generations of Coburg residents” said Mr Carden. 

Those that know this beautiful parkland know the decision to gift the parkland to the City of Moreland for the continued use of the community should be a simple one - as easy as a “walk in the park”.

To highlight the crisis facing the parkland, we’ve invited local and state politicians to attend an on-site information session on Sunday 7th September, 9:30am - 10:30am.  We’ll meet at the bridge near the basketball stadium on Outlook Rd, where the Merri and Edgars creeks join.

Come and join us to…

• See this wonderful parkland with your own eyes to fully appreciate how and why the local community has invested significant time to improve the quality of this public open space.
• Hear more about the working relationships the community (through the Friends of Edgars Creek) has built with relevant stakeholders, such as Greening Australia, Melbourne Water and the City of Moreland, to manage and improve this community asset.
• Experience the natural beauty of this parkland and discover how the loss of this community asset will contradict Melbourne 2030 Policy 5.7 –’to ensure major open space corridors are protected and enhanced’.

Remember - there’s no reason people should have to pay for a park twice!

Thanks to some amazing efforts by dedicated volunteers supporting the MECPG we now have a fantastic tri-fold brochure detailing the virtues of the parkland and the ongoing benefits to the community and ecosystem. If you’ve got a colour printer you might like to include it when writing to your local political representatives at local and state level.

Only through making sure our voice is heard will we make progress. We can’t let the park be sold to developers - the loss of such a large amount of open space in a city that desperately needs more would be a tragedy!

Merri & Edgars Creek Parkland brochure … [PDF, 1.8MB]

ECOLOGICAL

The significance of this reserve corridor has an ecological perspective. For example, the Department of Sustainability and Environment (2006) Atlas of Victorian Wildlife records 48 fauna species within 1.5km of the Kodak Bridge over Edgar’s Creek. Approx 280 trees already exist on the site. Included in the parkland are areas of remnant vegetation.

OPEN SPACE

There are long-term requirements for open space in the area resulting from high to medium residential developments in Pentridge Village and the former Kodak site. The City of Moreland already has one of the lowest percentages of open space allocations in metropolitan Melbourne.

VIC PARKS LEVY

The land should remain in public ownership in return for the Melbourne Water Parkland fee paid annually by local ratepayers. To date, almost none of the $3m money collected each year by the state government in the form of an annual Melbourne Water Parkland fee has been used for Parkland maintenance and/or provision in the City of Moreland

COUNCIL’S RESPONSIBILITY

Council has been responsible for maintaining and improving this land, including tree planning. Moreland ratepayers should not have to buy the land to save it for open space – why should the public pay for what they already own?

RECREATIONAL USES

The existing parkland is used daily by golfers, dog walkers and regularly by the Coburg Harriers athletics club and their affiliates for cross-country running events. The loss of this parkland would force these activities elsewhere. Off-leash dog walking areas are also in very short supply in Moreland and the loss of parkland would significantly compromise the ability for this area to safely support off-leash dog-walking.

COMMUNITY INTEGRATION AND CONNECTION

The parkland also fosters social interaction and connectedness through participation in shared social activities and spontaneous meetings.

WATERWAY MANAGEMENT

The undeveloped watershed land in its current state helps maintain water quality in Edgars Creek. This is particularly important given the Merri and Edgars Creek are tributaries of the Yarra River which is already suffering from increasing urban pollution.

GREEN BUFFER BETWEEN INDUSTRY, RESIDENTIAL AND RECREATIONAL PRECINCTS

The desirability to maintain a green buffer between surrounding residential areas and the Newlands Core Industrial Precinct i.e., this helps mitigate emissions, manage noise pollution, impact of potential 24/7 illumination etc. Development of existing parklands for uses other than public open space would compromise the existing secluded bushland character of the reserve corridor which the local Council has already committed to preserving and improving.

FLOODPLAIN

The majority of the residential zone land is classified as land subject to inundation and is in the path of overland flows for storm water. This should prohibit the development of this land, particularly given the age and lack of capacity of existing stormwater infrastructure in the surrounding area. Climate change factors further exacerbate inundation issues.

INFRASTRUCTURE IMPACTS

Residential or industrial development of the parklands area would place additional pressure on existing road infrastructure not adequately designed to support this increased traffic volume. The bridge width over Merri Creek and the intersection with Murray Road are already bottlenecks. Additional traffic would reduce pedestrian safety and increase noise pollution for local residents.

LANDFILL AND CONTAMINATION

Areas of the parkland have been used for landfill and may therefore be unsuitable for residential development with extensive remediation works.