By Cameron Weston
HOBSONS Bay City Council has announced a draft master plan to give one of the most recognised waterways in Melbourne’s West a major rejuvenation.
The plan will cover Kororoit Creek from north of the Princes Freeway to McArthurs Rd, in Altona North, and include revegetation, new paths and improvements to Hosken Reserve and the urban forest.
The plan will be put in place over the next 10 years, and funding will be sought through federal and state grant programs.
Geoff Mitchelmore, president of the Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek (FOLKC), said the master plan was the culmination of many years’ development and would further strengthen the recently released Kororoit Creek Strategy.
Mr Mitchelmore said the improvements at Kororoit Creek would complete a vital link in the bike trail network in Melbourne’s inner west.
The plan calls for the development of a shared trail, linking the established Bay Trail and the Federation Trail to Werribee, and the Brimbank Trail would make Hobsons Bay part of the city-wide trail network.
The new plan will also link Brooklyn with parts of Hobsons Bay and the wider trail network.
This strengthens the Kororoit Creek strategy that emerged a few weeks ago.
However, a council report stated there were some outstanding issues with the landscape plan, including aligning the trail where it crosses the railway line and Kororoit Creek Rd, and as it passes through the environmentally sensitive Rowdens Swamp, near Cherry Lake.
The report stated that more work was also needed to align the trail and resolve land ownership issues south of the Barnes Rd bridge and at the Altona North landfill site.
Mr Mitchelmore said important environmental issues would also be addressed in the master plan, issues that would ensure the creek does not deteriorate further from damage sustained in the past.
Plant and wildlife would also have the chance to flourish as the creek became “the bio-diversity corridor that it should have been for many years”.
Mr Mitchelmore again paid tribute to local business and the Millers Inn hotel, which sponsored part of the draft plan and was crucial in getting the project moving.
“We wouldn’t have got it under way if it wasn’t for that initiative.”
A draft copy of the master plan is available at all Hobsons Bay City Council customer service centres and libraries, and on-line at www.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au
