Ex-Mitcham councillor John Wilson lashes out over Brownhill Creek garden destruction

A former Mitcham Citizen of the Year has lashed out at council staff who, he says, destroyed a volunteer-planted garden along Brownhill Creek that had taken years to construct.

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A former Mitcham councillor and Citizen of the Year has lashed out at council staff who, he says, destroyed a volunteer-planted garden along Brownhill Creek that had taken years to construct.

John Wilson told the HillsValley Weekly he had spent his own money on the project next to Hawthorn Community Centre, including on an irrigation system which had been torn apart during work to flood-proof the creek.

“I did a total dummy-spit when I saw the damage done to work done by volunteers over a number of years,” Mr Wilson, of Hawthorn, said.

The garden alongside Brownhill Creek before the recent widening works. Picture: supplied

“The planted area of the bank above the wall and north of the community centre has been ripped up.

“What is so annoying is just the sheer stupidity of it.

“This entire area for a few hundred meters called the Morris Reserve comes through to George St and these dick***s doing the work have damaged that end of the garden too.”

The garden bank after the council’s work.

Named Mitcham’s Citizen of the Year in 2013 for his work on flood mitigation at Brownhill Creek, Mr Wilson said the damage to the garden would hit the morale of the volunteers who had worked on the project.

“What I’m really snakey about is that these volunteers are irreplaceable,” he said.

“These are local residents who have ownership of the area and care far more than council staff. But now, why would they ever come back?”

Mr Wilson, a former engineer who has lived in the area for more than 35 years, said he had written to the council in November alerting it that work to flood-proof the creek as part of the “Widening and Landscaping in Hawthorn Reserves” project, could affect the garden.

“I asked them to get in touch when it was happening and we could have been there to oversee the work,” he said.

“At the very least, we could have salvaged the plants and equipment. This is such a senseless waste.”

John Wilson following his election to Mitcham Council in later 2017. Picture: AAP/Emma Brasier

Mitcham strategic projects engineer Rick Hennig apologised to Mr Wilson and said he would meet with him to address “concerns and wishes”.

“I apologise for any communication shortfalls,” Mr Hennig wrote in an email to Mr Wilson.

“The irrigation will be more extensive when the works are complete and enable a quick establishment environment.”

Mr Wilson, who defeated a field of six candidates in Mitcham’s Gault Ward by-election of November 2017, said he did not stand for council in 2018 because he had “had a gutful”.