Mitcham Council takes blame for destroying community garden that has devastated volunteers

Senior Mitcham council staff and the Mayor have been dragged into a controversy surrounding the destruction of a community garden alongside Brownhill Creek.

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Senior Mitcham council staff and the Mayor have been dragged into a controversy surrounding the destruction of a community garden alongside Brownhill Creek.

Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross, chief executive Matt Pears and engineering and horticulture general manager Dan Baker will this week meet with John Wilson, who has accused the council of recklessly ripping up the Hawthorn garden painstakingly created by volunteers over many years.

Mr Wilson, a former Mitcham councillor and Citizen of the Year, said he had been told initial plans for an overhaul of the area to allow for widening of Brownhill Creek showed the garden was “not to be touched”.

A change in a later drawing was “not picked up”.

“This act has broken the hearts of all the volunteers who have been involved here since 2007, particularly those who have worked on this area since 2017 (when the garden was planted),” Mr Wilson said.

A garden bank project along Brownhill Creek at Hawthorn before it was destroyed by Mitcham Council work.

The former engineer, who has lived in the area for more than 35 years, said he would discuss several options with council to fix the issues and to ensure “this sort of debacle doesn’t happen again”.

“There needs to be better communication between the council’s different discipline groups, and with volunteers, and getting input from experts outside Mitcham Council’s bubble,” Mr Wilson said.

Mr Baker told the HillsValley Weekly the destruction “should not have occurred” and was an “oversight”.

He apologised for the removal of the garden bed and the “impact and distress caused.”

“We are now focused on rectifying the garden by working with the volunteer group,” Mr Baker said.

“We will work closely with representatives of the group to ensure a satisfactory outcome for this area in the longer term.”

Mr Wilson 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 floodproof the creek.

The garden bank project along Brownhill Creek at Hawthorn organised before it was removed.

John Wilson at Brownhill Creek. Picture: AAP/Emma Brasier

His group would like input into the replacement plants.

“We would like volunteers planting the area at the Hawthorn Community Centre with local provenance (original) plants instead of the contractors doing it with landscapers’ mix,” he said.

“I have undertaken to get the plant lists that are being used by the landscapers in Soldiers Memorial Gardens and (JWS) Morris Reserve.”

Mr Baker confirmed the group would be consulted on plant choice.

Meanwhile, Mr Wilson will also use this week’s meeting as an opportunity to discuss his plan to have the disused bowling green land behind Mitcham Preschool returned to the adjoining Soldiers Memorial Gardens — a proposal he first raised while he was on Mitcham Council.