The following table taken directly from council’s latest version of the Open Space Strategy (OSS) says it all in terms of performance and how important this council views open space.
There are several things to note about this table:
- Of the fourteen suburbs listed 7 have less than 10 square metres per individual
- Only three suburbs have maintained the amount of public open space available to each individual, and these are the suburbs with the LEAST amount of public open space per capita (ie 3 metres).
- Thus Glen Eira has seen a REDUCTION of available public open space per individual over the past 6 years. Given the projected population growth, this will only get worse.
Over the past 6 years council has ‘achieved’ the following:
- Placing a public acquisition overlay on 2 properties in Mile End Road/Mimosa Road, Carnegie. Houses still stand.
- Purchase of old furniture store in Carnegie for $3+M in order to cater for market
- Purchase of fully renovated property in Aileen Avenue for $2.16 and then rented out for 4 years. Also a stone’s throw from Princes Park
- Several pocket parks. No report/evaluation as to how well used these are – ie unnamed road between Eskdale and Fitzgibbon Crescent and 500 metres from Caulfield Park
Over the past ten and a half years, council has accumulated $52m in open space levies. It has spent just over $8M on acquiring properties as NEW open space. That is basically 15%. The rest has gone into ‘improvement’ of existing open space, despite the fact that this council has identified for the past 30 odd years the need for additional open space!
Here’s the table that documents council’s accrued levy contributions. The figures are taken directly from the 2014 and 2020 open space strategies, together with data from the monthly financial reports.
|
FINANCIAL YEAR |
REVENUE |
| 2009/10 | $1,663,000 |
| 2010/11 | $1,629,000 |
| 2011/12 | $2,230,000 |
| 2012/13 | $1,900,000 |
| 2013/14 | $2,581,000 |
| 2014/15 | $3,667,000 |
| 2015/16 | $5,865,000 |
| 2016/17 | $7,811,000 |
| 2017/18 | $10,348,000 |
| 2018/19 | $7,851,000 |
| 2019/20 (Jul-April) | $6,856,815 |
| TOTAL | $52,401,815 |
Glen Eira Debates 
June 8, 2020 at 4:55 PM
What number at Aileen ave Caulfield South? who in there right mind at council level signs a rental contract for 4 years. That sounds like someone is doing a favour for someone? Typically you rent for max. 12 months; that’s ridiculous!!!!
June 8, 2020 at 5:34 PM
NO 6. Aileen Ave. Leases have been extended several times. Current lease is probably until January 2021.
One of the Mimosa Road properties has also been empty and derelict for quite some time.
June 8, 2020 at 7:49 PM
Council is saving all that open space levy cash for a big spend-up at the racecourse in a few years time when the training is removed.
As usual it will be spent on pavilions, car parks and other sporting infrastructure there.
Of course no new open space will be added that’s not already there. Trees will be ripped out, and open space will disappear under asphalt and concrete and buildings, and they will tell us this environmentally sustainable and green.
June 8, 2020 at 7:52 PM
Whoopee …. I have 4 square metres of open space, for now.
I think I should be able to say how I want my 4 sq. m. used.
June 8, 2020 at 9:26 PM
What council has refuses to do, is to say how our meagre amount of open space is used, or how it is allocated.
Blind freddy can see that the lion’s share of our open space in GE is turned over to sporting clubs for their active recreation, even though less than 10% of residents take part in organised active sport.
This mean we have almost no amount of high quality passive open space. Redressing this imbalance should be priority with council.
For most residents their passive open space consists of treeless narrow fringes of mowed left-overs around the perimeter of their local sporting oval/s.
It’s really is about time we saw a allocation of our open space areas that reflects and fairly distributes our open space to suit the needs of all residents, this is a health issue that GE has been ignoring for decades.
Council needs to look at the data they collect and provide for all age groups recreational needs and welfare, and also understand residents recreational pursuits stretch far beyond providing mostly for our sporting minority.
It’s 2020 and our open space has to provide a lot more services than it ever has done before, being locked into a tradition of clubs dictating how most of our open space is fixed and used is wrong, counter productive and highly discriminatory against most residents, this should change if we want a healthy community for all residents.
June 9, 2020 at 9:38 AM
Covid has shown how much we need more open space. I stopped going to parks for exercise because it was impossible with so many people descending into the parks.
My message to council is stop wasting money on non essentials and start buying land. That’s what we need.
June 9, 2020 at 4:41 PM
I noticed this to, up along the new Djerring skyrail trail about a month ago, it was packed with people. I was amazed I’d never seen so many people, dogs and bicycles out and about this this before. It was far too crowded.
June 9, 2020 at 9:29 PM
Would you include caulfield racecourse in 2031 figures? More using now because of lockdown