Fight on for homeowners desperate to save Estelle St park from North East Link

HOMEOWNERS in a suburban Bulleen street are fighting to save a park they fear will be bulldozed as part of the North East Link project.

John Smith says the North East Link's current aligment will cost him and his neighbours their local park in Estelle St, Bullen. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

HOMEOWNERS in a suburban Bulleen street are fighting to save a park they fear will be bulldozed as part of the North East Link project.

Spokesman John Smith last week presented a petition to the project authority to save Koonung Creek Trail, which sits between the Eastern Freeway and Estelle St homes. Park users are worried it will make way for widening of the Eastern Freeway.

Mr Smith, who has lived in Estelle St for 32 years, said about 90 per cent of homeowners had signed his petition which he had taken to Roads Minister Luke Donnellan and the North East Link Authority.

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“We’re asking the North East Link to reconsider their alignment because at the moment it appears we stand to lose our small park,” he said. “There’s huge parkland on the North Balwyn side so I would think they should be able to keep our 25m of parkland and move the road across the other side.”

He said the park was popular with homeowners. “People walk their dogs, practise their soccer and ball skills, all sorts of things. We’ve got a mixture of families and older residents who’ve been here about 45 years,” Mr Smith said.

Estelle St homeowners John Smith and Vicki Kermanidis fear losing their local park to the North East Link project. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

North East Link Authority chief executive Duncan Elliott said authority staff had met Estelle St homeowners and would keep them updated on the project’s progress.

“Koonung Creek Trail is likely to be realigned and once work is finished, the path will be upgraded,” he said.

“It’s expected we will need to move (the park) a little, so we are working on exactly how the whole path will be changed and upgraded at the moment. Across the project we will be building new paths and upgrading existing paths.”

The formal land acquisition process cannot start until after the environmental effects and planning approvals process, which is expected to happen in late 2019.

Mr Donnellan said the Government knew “how important open space is for people”.

“Which is why plans are being refined across the project to minimise impact from construction as much as possible,” he said.