#mcgs

"A massive new urban park will snake across Melbourne’s east, bringing families and communities opening up the equivalent of 18 MCGs with wide open spaces and trails connecting suburbs together.

Member for Glen Waverley John Mullahy representing the Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos today announced the construction starting of the new ngarrak nakorang wilam park running from Forest Hill, through Vermont and connecting to the Dandenong trail.

The new park will include a 3.5km shared-use walking and cycling trail, toilet block, and open recreational space for visitors to enjoy all year round.

The ‘ngarrak nakorang wilam’ name means ‘Mountain Meeting Place’ and was chosen by the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation. The name celebrates Wurundjeri Traditional Owner connections to Country and vividly expresses how parks bring people together.

"Spring growth is well and truly underway across Mitchell Shire, with recent rain and bursts of sunshine creating perfect conditions for fast-growing grass in parks, gardens and along roadsides.

While mowing is continuing across the municipality, wet ground conditions are making it difficult to access many areas and slowing down work where mowing is possible.

Council teams are using all available staff, machinery and resources to maintain open spaces and prepare for the upcoming fire season. 

Dexus will install more than $25 million worth of batteries in new warehouses, equal to the size of 40 Melbourne Cricket Grounds, as it looks to future-proof its investment portfolio and help its customers reduce their energy costs and carbon footprints.

The installation of a $500,000 to $700,000 commercial grade base battery system (connected to rooftop solar) on all new warehouses is expected to deliver total annual energy savings of more than $4.6 million once more than 1 million square metres of industrial space is delivered over the next few years.

Infrastructure Victoria has backed a plan to leave school grounds open after hours to provide communities with additional access to green space.

Two thirds of schools currently leave their gates open when they close, but some principals cite security and vandalism concerns as reasons why they restrict access.

Infrastructure Victoria CEO Dr Jonathan Spear told Raf Epstein leaving school gates closed is a wasted opportunity. 

"There's 450 hectares of outdoor areas at schools, that's 110 MCGs worth," he said.

The Suburban Rail Loop could leave Box Hill with a “catastrophic” lack of parkland, according to the Whitehorse mayor who accuses the state government of shutting the council out of the planning process.

Mayor Denise Massoud said she was concerned that the Victorian government was neglecting the need for new parkland in Box Hill in its effort to boost housing supply.

However, the Suburban Rail Loop Authority’s draft precinct plan identifies the land as a “key site” for possible new housing.

Massoud said that between the Suburban Rail Loop and North-East Link works occurring in Burwood and Box Hill, the municipality was losing 15 MCGs of open space, which was devastating for liveability and biodiversity.

“You can’t just take, you have to give something back,” she said.