Let’s talk about open space in Notting Hill
Notting Hill in reality is not a big suburban area. The residential area is small and compact and bounded by arterial roads.
The main residential areas are the Westerfield Estate and the Rusden estate.
Westerfield Estate people have always been forced to use school grounds as their open exercise and recreational areas as the developer, A V Jennings, did not provide a park as originally promised.
In these is the former Monash Primary School which has a compact sports oval. This is now fenced off and access is officially denied although the fence is falling down. Its future looks bleak as once the Monash Council rezones the area the developers are likely to move in.
The High School or Secondary College is closed and the future of its land is questionable.
So what public access land does the area of 600 dwellings have? There area couple of small patches where vacant blocks have some public use. This gives the residential area less than 0.2 percent of the area as public space.
In Monash City Council overall the amount of public space is 5 percent.
According to the 2001 Census figures, 234 people out of 1364 persons living on the estate are 15 years old or under; that’s around 17%. These kids need space, and adults increasingly need room for exercise.
The link between growing obesity of the population and lack of open space or areas for walking is obvious.
The steamroller approach of increasing the density of the housing without though for mobility physical activity by people has to be rejected.
The locals have had the school grounds as open spaces for exercise and recreation in the past but it is unlikely they will in the future given the influence of the development and real estate lobby in State politics.
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It is also important to realise that the census information used is old and recent demographics have changed to a less aging model as there are visually more younger families with young children moving in, and more elderly migrating to fresher pastures. The issues of no near-by schools and parklands for families are real everyday problems of residents, however these actual facts are not currently qualified to be latest planning assumptions and priorities, or be the real criteria for management decision making. Consequently, we have good planning decisions and priorities that do not suit actual situations. The latest 2006 consensus of the specific Notting Hill area would be available about ~ mid 2007, and this will clarify the real situation, and confirm new immediate opportunities for Local Government and other State Government agencies to take immediate and pro-active actions in addressing the matter, if we are to trust and sustain our faith in their support and care. Availability of the updated census data will indeed confirm their commitment and resolve to revise their strategy plans, priorities and decisions as acts of best practice governance, or otherwise. We continue to trust positive results would arise, hence still sustaining good faith in our local government representatives and staff. Better still, our local a government and councillors can quickly intervene and pro-actively address the situation now, and which we would certainly appreciate & pride their high competencies and true care for the local community in Notting Hill... Like majority of residents, I will certainly look forward to this significant milestone of change sooner than later, and quick realisation of the resolution/s to the identified issues of lack of nearby schools and parkland space for our growing family residents.
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