Box Hill South will soon be home to a brand-new green open space, with Whitehorse City Council set to transform a disused carpark adjacent to the Gardiners Creek trail into much-needed parkland.
Council recently purchased the 2400sqm parcel of land at 35 Hay Street, which had previously been slated for a 7-unit development.
In Council's hands, the site which is a natural extension to the Gardiners Creek linear park, will be transformed into a beautiful, green open space for the benefit of the community.
It is envisioned that the new park could include a picnic area, a small area for basketball, grassland, local indigenous plantings and a pathway connecting into the existing Gardiners Creek linear trail. Many of the existing, established trees will also be retained.
Mayor of Whitehorse, Cr Denise Massoud said, "we are thrilled to have purchased this land to create a beautiful new park for our community."
"It is essential that we invest in open space for the health and wellbeing of current and future residents. The State Government has set ambitious housing targets, with Box Hill's population projected to almost triple by 2056."
"In fact, public open space in the Box Hill precinct could reduce from 19m2 to 7m2 per person by 2056 if we don't act. Council is seizing every opportunity to create more open space for our community."
"This is just the beginning. We look forward to working collaboratively with the State Government to ensure there will be enough new open space to support our growing community in the coming years," she said.
Graham Ross, of the KooyongKoot Alliance (who represents over 20 Friends and Advisory Groups in the Gardiners Creek Catchment) congratulated Whitehorse City Council on its investment in more open space for the community.
"As a biodiversity/nature focused group, we think it's incredibly important that the community has more green, open spaces in Whitehorse, especially given the pressures they face in light of development," says Graham.
"If this area was sold to developers, we would lose trees and canopy cover, which are essential as we try to protect our existing biodiversity and green spaces," he said.
As part of Whitehorse Council's Draft Open Space Strategy 2024 (which is currently out for community consultation), Council is committed to improve and widen the access points to Gardiners Creek corridor through Box Hill South, as well as Burwood and Blackburn South. This will strengthen the Gardiners Creek corridor and improve the buffer between the creek and any future development.
Whitehorse Council's Urban Forest Strategy has targets around increasing tree canopy cover, and this new open space provides opportunity for increased tree planting, which all helps bring those targets closer in sight.
Council will be seeking input from the local community about the designs for the new open space in the coming months. Construction is expected to begin in 2025.
