BY NATALIE GALLENTI
SUNSHINE residents have rallied against a proposal to convert parkland into a housing development.
A meet and greet was held last Sunday in Albion after residents became aware of an application by Melbourne Water to convert land next to Kororoit Creek from ‘Public Open Space/Public Use Zone’ classification to Residential 1 so they could sell it for housing development.
Residents believe the development of the land located on Fraser St and owned by Melbourne Water, would see their houses exposed to flooding and other safety hazards and would leave them without important parkland.
The meet and greet comes only weeks after a group of committed residents fought against a proposal from Brimbank Council to sell off parkland across the municipality.
The Save our Parks group forced the council to eventually back down on the proposal.
Nearby resident Beverley Aird said the community was adamant they would not lose their open space.
Ms Aird said too much land had already been sold off and the area needed to retain as much open space for future generations.
She also said many new families had bought in the area to be close to open space and now the council threatened to take it from them.
“This is not just an issue for locals. While local residents will be most severely impacted, our green spaces should be preserved for all Victorians.
“It is our view it should be seen as enormously important community asset, not something to be sold off.”
