A NEW park at a former landfill site in Clarinda is now open. Victory Road Reserve officially opened last week. The park sits on 30 hectares of land once used as landfill. The Clarinda park forms part of Kingston Council’s planned “chain of parks”, a series of linked parks stretching from Karkarook Park in Heatherton through to Braeside Park.
Kingston Council worked with Cleanaway to rehabilitate the Clarinda land. Kingston mayor Jenna Davey-Burns said “we’re so pleased to be able to provide long term benefits from closed and rehabilitated landfill sites – providing positive outcomes for the community and the environment. Vibrant new spaces like this really enhance our recreational facilities and open space in our green wedge and we can’t wait to see everyone coming together to enjoy it.”
“We have invested heavily in transforming former tips on council land, with Elder Street South and Spring Road Reserve in Dingley Village previously completed and having an incredibly positive impact on our community,” she said. “The Victorian government’s purchase of a further 83 hectares in Heatherton and Clayton South was also very exciting and we are getting closer everyday to seeing the generational chain of parks – sandbelt open space project being completed.”
Cleanaway’s head of engineering landfill and remediation, Barry Griffin, has outlined the work that went into the transformation. “Our team worked closely with key stakeholders during the five-year project to transform this landfill site, planting 230,000 shrubs and trees, laying 300,000 square metres of grass cover, and constructing three kilometres of access paths, a gym circuit, dog park and viewing platform,” he said.
In 2018, the state government committed $25 million towards purchasing land for the chain of parks. In the leadup to the 2022 state election, Kingston Council called for the state government to fulfill its promise and help complete the project (“Pleas for parkland promise to be fulfilled” The News 5/10/2022).
For more information on the chain of parks visit kingston.vic.gov.au/environment/our-green wedge.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 4 September 2024