By Cr Matt Tyler
A council budget is so much more than a financial document; it’s a vision for what we want to achieve across our community.
The choices in the budget each year have implications, often for generations to come. This is particularly true for investments in parks and open space.
We’re fortunate in Hobsons Bay to have so many places to connect with nature – beaches, wetlands and coastal trails. These are places we can all enjoy, made possible by conservation efforts from those who have come before us and which continue today.
Likewise, as a dad myself, I know how important our parks are to provide a place for parents to connect while our little ones blow off some steam.
The number of people using the new play space at Bruce Comben Reserve, designed in partnership with the Bunurong Land Council and the Friends of Skeleton Creek, is testament to the value of council’s investments in park upgrades.
Our budget for 2024-25 includes more than $15 million for parks, open space and streetscapes – up by almost 40 per cent relative to council’s budgets over the past five years.
There are some significant projects within that. The budget includes $525,000 for stage two of the McCormack Park development in Laverton, which will include waterplay areas, playground works, an exercise hub, seating and barbecue areas.
While we continue to advocate for funding from other levels of government for the Hobsons Bay Wetlands Centre, we’re getting on with the early works of what will become an incredible environmental and ecotourism hotspot.
We’ve committed $1.5 million to these early works, which we aim to have finished by June 2025. They’ll include the construction of the initial community education spaces and landscaping, and will showcase our vision for what the wetlands centre will be in the future.
There’s also significant investment in the open space surrounding Altona Beach and construction will soon begin on both Alma Avenue Reserve in Altona Meadows and Pipeline Reserve in Seabrook.
There’s plenty to the 2024-25 budget, so if you’d like to learn more, you can check it out at hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/budget2024-25
