By Eleanor Wilson and Shelby Brooks
Casey Council is seeking a commitment from the State Government to link 600Ha of parkland between Beaconsfield and Clyde.
Located on the traditional Country of the Bunurong land, the Cardinia Creek Regional Parklands will link existing parks including Cardinia Creek Regional Park and Grasmere Wetlands, Akoonah Park, Beaconsfield Flora and Fauna Reserve, Beaconsfield Recreation Reserve, Beaconsfield Park, Manna Gum Park, Mick Morland and Bob Burgess Reserve.
The parklands have been gradually established over the past 20 years, with hopes to acquire additional land by 2040 to link the parks that weave along Cardinia Creek in both Cardinia and Casey municipalities.
It would see the parklands stretch along more than 18km on both sides of the Cardinia Creek and provide a continuous chain of parks and reserves with ecological, cultural and community benefits for the region.
In a council meeting on 20 September, City of Casey administrators endorsed the plan and announced they would advocate to the State Government for funding allocation.
“It remains a significant priority… to ensure we do achieve the requirements and the activities listed in the plan and that we do continue to advocate to the State Government for funding allocation to see that the plan’s realisation actually does occur,” City of Casey administrator Cameron Boardman said.
But Cardinia Shire councillors were more critical of DELWP’s choice to set out the plan without providing any funding commitments to realise the aims of the plan.
“This isn’t cheap if you do things properly,” Councillor Collin Ross said.
“[DELWP] have pointed out everything we need to do, and we would love to do them and we’ve been in partnership with them in forming this plan, but it appears without the funding commitment written into the final plan we could get left holding the booty on this.”
Cardinia Shire Councillor Stephanie Davies endorsed the plan as an important environmental and recreational space, but concurred her disappointment in the lack of funding.
“It is really disappointing that no funding is allocated, unfortunately this has happened before with projects and investments that look great on paper but aren’t realised.”
Cardinia Shire will be writing a letter to DELWP expressing its concern and asking that funding is allocated to ensure the outcomes of the plan can be delivered.
The growth of the Parklands has been a collaborative project by Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) in partnership with Parklands Partners Casey City Council, Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, Cardinia Shire Council, Melbourne Water and Parks Victoria.
