By Belinda Nolan
RESIDENTS clashed with Brimbank Council last week over open space, community consultation and a controversial plan to link Hampshire Rd’s shopping precincts.
Brimbank’s administrators, CEO and officers were in the firing line as residents vented their frustrations at the first of several Local Area Forums to be held this year.
About 40 residents attended the forum, which was held at the Sunshine Council offices last week.
Residents’ ire was provoked during the meeting when the council announced a plan to create a new public realm in Sunshine’s busy shopping precinct.
Dubbed Croft2, the project aims to link the Sunshine Plaza, Marketplace and the Hampshire Rd shopping strips.
Although council staff were excited by the plan, residents argued the funds could be better spent on community parks and playgrounds.
Sunshine resident John Hedditch said Brimbank’s Harvester Ward had the least amount of open space in the municipality and urged the council to fast-track the development of new parks to address the shortage.
“It’s a matter of priorities,” Mr Hedditch told the administrators.
“The community’s priority is not roads, it’s not Croft Square, it’s giving the kids of the area somewhere decent to play, not only for this generation, but for the future.”
Residents also raised concerns about the council’s consultation process.
Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers Association President Darlene Reilly said many residents believed community consultations were a sham.
“They hold these consultations and people go along in good faith but it often seems like they’re not hearing what we’re saying at all,” Ms Reilly said.
“The community tells the council what we want and then all of a sudden they’re funding some other project that we don’t see as being a priority.
“They’re not delivering what we’re asking for and that’s why consultations are so frustrating because we keep going around in circles.”
But Kelly Grigsby, the council’s General Manager of Community Wellbeing said the council had a long-standing commitment to consult with the community.
She said the council had increased the number of Local Area Forums this year to give residents more opportunities to have their say.
“Council welcomes community feedback received through its consultation process, and incorporates what the community has to say where the input adds value, improves outcomes or resolves issues,” Ms Grigsby said.
