With a fantastic turnout at the Moreland City Council meeting we’ve again shown the strength of community support for retention of open-space parkland. Mayor Mark O’Brien brought forward the report on VicRoads which helped since the act of doing so answered a number of questions those in the gallery were poised to ask.

In the act of proposing the Council resolution, Cr Helou amended the form so the letter written to VicRoads advising them of the Council’s wish to be gifted certain parcels of land was changed from ‘Parcels ‘A’ and ‘B’ near Newlands Rd, Coburg‘ to ‘All parcels of land near Newlands Rd, Coburg‘. This is clearly a much better outcome for residents and Council.

Moreland CEO Peter Brown reminded the community that the decision had been deferred “at least until the end of this financial year“. Cr Mathews-Ward commented to the gallery that this process could take a while, citing an example of public land retention which took years. Ideally our campaign won’t take that long!

During question time Christine Campbell MP again requested copies of any documentation about issues which would affect the land value and strengthen the argument for public ownership of the land continue to be sent to her. (Naturally, if you’ve got something to share, we’d love to share it with the world here so send us a copy too!)

We are still some way from the final outcome but some on Council tonight saw the community support for the first time and realised the strength of our campaign and resolve. With promises of more open dialogue in the future we hope to get that final decision much sooner than Cr Mathews-Ward’s example!

The rally in the city was well attended today and we provided a loud and energetic display of our desire to retain this parkland as community open space.

It’s great community support like this which has already managed to get us a couple of wins. Firstly, the deadline to sell the parkland was amended so the Feb 28th deadline is no more. Secondly, we were advised by Andrea Sharam that tomorrow night’s Moreland council meeting will no longer be held ‘in camera’, that is, excluding residents from discussion on this very important issue!

Thanks to all those who answered the last-minute call for a photoshoot in the park on Thu 8th Feb. Alas, we were victims of our own success. Due to the recent decision to postpone the decision deadline of 28th Feb it seems The Age decided there was no longer a story and didn’t publish the article.

It’s worth noting that even though we were advised very late (after business hours) to show up the next morning in the park during work hours we were still able to muster a large number of people. Obviously we all want to see the park remain as a community asset and whilst the short notice prevented many people from attending it showed those who could do so are willing to reorganise our lives on short notice to ensure the park remains part of our daily life.

Imagine the turnout if we’d had a few days notice and held it on a weekend!

Great news!  The strong community interest in this parkland has started to put pressure in the right places.

A meeting with four MECPG committee representatives, Christine Campbell MP, Mark O’Brien (Mayor, Moreland City Council), Peter Brown (CEO, Moreland City Council) and Rob Freemantle (Regional Manager for the Metro North West Region of VicRoads) occurred this morning.  At this meeting, Christine advised us that the deadline of 28th Feb 2007 has been removed!

VicRoads no longer has a requirement to financially account for this parkland for the 2006/07 financial year.  Clearly this is only a temporary reprieve at best but it is welcome news and thanks go out to all the residents who are keenly supporting this issue and ensuring the pressure is on!

Vic Roads has put a deadline for a decision by Moreland City Council to purchase the lands under threat, of 28th February 2007. Vic Roads can then put the land up for sale to developers.

STOP THE SALE OF PUBLIC LAND INTO PRIVATE HANDS!

Your attendance is critical at either of the two upcoming events.

Public Rally

When: Tuesday 13th February at 11:00am
Where: at the steps of Parliament House.
 

Moreland Council Meeting

When: Wednesday 14th February at 7:00pm
Where: Glenroy Senior Citizens Centre, 11 Cromwell St, Glenroy. 

Please refer to the attached document for further details.

Public Rally and Council Meeting details