FEARS over flora and fauna not being looked after at the Frankston Nature Conservation Reserve were aired at a Frankston Council public meeting on 22 May.
Councillors, apart from Cr Steve Toms and the absent on leave Cr Michael O’Reilly, voted to show support and appreciation for a community committee of management and “about 300” volunteers who have spent time on the upkeep of the 98-hectare reserve.
The state government decided not to renew the committee’s oversight of the reserve, effectively disbanding the group of volunteers.
The committee of management is headed by Frankston councillor Quinn McCormack.
Parks Victoria will take over management of the former Melbourne Water site that was closed to the public from the 1920s up until early last year (“Reserve returns to Parks”, The Times 15/5/17).
Cr Kris Bolam at the 22 May meeting said: “I think the way that group has been treated by the state government … has been most disappointing.
“It is a very hardworking group of people. We’re talking about scientists, people from academia, volunteers, park rangers – people with knowhow.”
He said Parks Victoria has “a pretty bad record, in my opinion, of managing parks.”
The government decision came amid angst between neighbours and volunteer committee members about access to the reserve from neighbouring properties.
Councillors resolved to write to Frankston Labor MP Paul Edbrooke and Victorian Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio to ask if the nature reserve will remain open to the public after Parks Victoria takes back management of the land.
Cr Toms, a Labor Party member, voted against the notice of motion and said he believed the state government had consulted with the committee before it was given notice Parks Victoria would take control of the nature reserve.
“It is really sad that the knowledge and professionalism appears to be abandoned,” Cr Glenn Aitken said.
Councillors decided to let the state government know it would be preferable if volunteers were involved in some way when Parks Victoria manages the reserve.
Letters of appreciation to volunteers will be handed out by council at the Mayor’s Picnic event in September.
“The community will have improved access to the reserve under the management of Parks Victoria,” spokesman David McNamara, on behalf of the Environment Minister, said in a statement last month.
No official handover date has been agreed between the community committee of management and Parks Victoria despite the committee’s management agreement ending in March.
Cr Bolam said his notice of motion to thank the volunteers was not “about politics” and he said he would have suggested that council officially thank the volunteers who looked after the reserve no matter which political party was in government at a state level.
- An article “Reserve returns to Parks” published on 15 May in The Times mentioned Facebook comments in relation to feuding between reserve neighbours and committee members.
Committee members did not respond on Facebook.
