KINGSTON Council has updated its plan for the management of Green Wedge land in the municipality.
Council’s Green Wedge management plan was first developed in 2012. Draft changes to the policy will go out for community consultation next week.
A statement from Kingston Council outlined changes that have been made since 2012, and considered in the new draft plan. They include the completion of the Dingley Bypass and advanced construction of Mordialloc Freeway, approval of Amendment C143 which rezoned the northern section of land off Kingston and Heatherton Roads from Special Use Zone Schedule 2 to Green Wedge A Zone, council’s masterplan for the Chain of Parks project, and the proposed Purple Pipe recycled water project. Council also says the draft plan features recognition for the approval of Hawthorn Football Club’s “significant planned investment into the Green Wedge by providing for an innovative redevelopment of a former landfill site”.
Kingston mayor Steve Staikos said council’s draft plan also reinforced its opposition to plans for stabling yards in Heatherton.
“Our Green Wedge management plan was first developed in 2012 with a 20-year action plan, but a lot has happened since then and it was time to update the plan,” Cr Staikos said. “This draft plan responds to all the Green Wedge issues that exist in Kingston today, and will see it protected from uses that don’t fit within our long-held vision for our Green Wedge.
“Importantly it also reinforces council’s position that the Suburban Rail Loop Authority’s preferred location of the train stabling yards in Heatherton is unacceptable. Council fully intends to defend the Sandbelt Open Space – Chain of Parks Strategy, and this important core parkland, which has been earmarked for a women’s regional sporting precinct.”
Earlier this month suburban rail loop minister Jacinta Allan said that the Heatherton site was the “best location for the suburban rail loop train stabling, minimising compulsory acquisition of homes, businesses and parkland”. (“Stabling plans spark protest”, The News, 17/3/21)
Kingston Council says it has “completed and planned investments which exceed $22 million from our Green Wedge capital reserve fund to directly deliver the Chain of Parks for south-east Melbourne” since adopting the Green Wedge management plan in 2012.
Since 2012 council has opened the 34-hectare Spring Road Reserve in Dingley, purchased land in Clarinda and Dingley Village for the Chain of Parks, completed the 4-hectare Elder Street South Park in Clarinda, and worked with Cleanaway on the redevelopment of the Victory Road landfill to create a 31-hectare park in Clayton South.
Council’s ultimate end goal is to complete the Chain of Parks, which will be a series of linked parks created from former landfill sites. The parks will include recreational facilities and open space, and are expected to run from Karkarook Park through to Braeside Park.
To read Kingston’s Green Wedge management plan draft and make a submission, visit yourkingstonyoursay.com.au between Tuesday 6 April and Tuesday 4 May.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 31 March 2021