Green or greed? The battle for our suburban parklands
This opinion piece written by Peter Hodge - an MECPG committee member - appeared in ’The Age’, 11 Aug 2008.
HERE is a challenge.The next time it tickles your fancy to scale the heights of the Rialto or Eureka towers, look towards the northern suburbs of Melbourne from the observation deck and try to spot the parkland. There’s Princes Park and Royal Park, although yet another large chunk of the latter is under threat from the Eddington report’s road tunnel. Much further north, on a clear day, you might spy a sliver of greenery, parkland on either side of Coburg Lake. Just to the east of that, running north alongside Edgars Creek from its confluence with Merri Creek, is a 6.5-hectare tract of fully functional parkland. Owned by VicRoads, it is under threat of being sold off to developers unless Moreland City Council can find $10 million to buy it.Research conducted by Professor David Crawford, research fellow at Deakin University (as reported in The Age, 4/7), has shown that “rich suburbs have better-equipped parks”. The northern suburbs have a greater dilemma though - hanging on to the precious little parkland they already have.Moreland City Council has declared its preference to retain the four parcels that constitute the Merri and Edgars Creek parkland as public open space, but have baulked at the price tag. After all, it is a local government election year and ratepayers don’t always appreciate the difficulty associated with getting more by paying less. There is also talk of a tawdry deal being struck - though those wishing to put a positive spin on it would call it a “compromise” - to sell off a choice cut of the land to preserve the rest.
Crawford explains that councils such as Moreland have got fewer resources and “are trying to spread them further to deal with more issues” which, in this instance, provokes the important question: why should they have to? Why can’t the land be gifted to the council, just as the Point Nepean land was gifted to the state of Victoria by the Federal Government?
The Melbourne 2030 plan clearly supports the position of the Merri and Edgars Creek Parkland Group, whose raison d’etre is to save this parkland.
The recent Audit Expert Group Report on Melbourne 2030 notes that “the provision of neighbourhood amenities, including parks, open space, facilities and services, is an essential component of maintaining neighbourhood liveability”. Further, it recommends “improving open space provision and services in line with population increases”.
It correctly observes: “Reduction of tree canopy and loss of open space are two of the most easily felt and resented potential (but not inevitable) outcomes of urban consolidation.” It argues that “allocation of surplus government land for open space” is an area that should be taken into consideration.
There are many other cases of public open space under threat. However, no less than any of them, the Merri and Edgars Creek parkland issue should be a lay-down misere. The park is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna. It is utilised by a vast cross-section of people, locals and from far-flung suburbs.
The land is subject to inundation, a status not likely to improve as the frequency of flash floods, related to global warming, increases. Residential developments on the old Pentridge and Kodak sites are contributing to significant population growth in the area and the State Government is yet to explain how the citizens of Moreland would be compensated for any loss of open space. Further, Moreland City Council, and hence the ratepayers, have maintained the parkland for decades now and justifiably believe they have already paid for it.
If Pascoe Vale were a marginal electorate, I suspect this issue would have been resolved before the last state election. Planning Minister Justin Madden and Minister for Roads Tim Pallas have a clear choice here: another blatant grab for cash, or a principled, commonsense decision in keeping with the Melbourne 2030 plan and to the benefit of thousands of Melburnians.
If our governments cannot even follow their own plans to protect our valuable public open space, what hope do we have of meeting greater challenges such as warding off the extreme effects of global warming?
Peter Hodge is a teacher and writer.
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This story was found at:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/green-or-greed-the-battle-for-our-suburban-parklands-20080810-3szr.html?page=-1
August 13th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Dear Peter
your article on open space hit the nail on the head we are battling the Eddington Reports suggestions of using JJ Holland Park and Royal Park as staging posts for the construction of the tunnel -open space just doesnot to be on the radar and we are constatntly been told by policitians that well we all have to suffer pain for the greater good -I went to the consultation with Lyn Kosky on the transportation plan yesterday and I then went onto the planning table which to say the least was interesting. A few on the table had already identified preserving open space as a priority ,the facilitator was trying to guide us to requiring planning schemes and overlay or demographic reports which the reflect the impact on a local community of loss of open space. As I pointed out we have all the planning schemes and government policies (see the submission by @leisure in respect to the Eddington Report) we need to preserve open space but what needs to happen is that the Government needs to adhere to its on policies and the planning policies of local government. I do not understand why open space is being sacrificed every where we turn.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:34 am
These spaces are the lungs of our cities
They provide calm and wellbeing
Sport and recreation are encouraged
Healthy minds and Healthy community
Here also at the confluence of Merri and Edgars creek we implore retention of open space that can only help with quality of water runoff.
Our governments should be visionaries
We respect commercial realities but be careful that this should also look at a holistic plan and the otherwise long term indirect costs to the community -
We need to maintian the physical, mental and moral health of our communities for the future.
This is not just a matter of flogging off an asset to pay for todays dinner.
Governments need to work harder to make savings and efficiencies in other areas so that green space is preserved.
Beware the placebo of Urban consolidation.