Gowanbrae Residents Group backs push from Moonee Valley Council to take control of suburb from Moreland

They’ve got one of Melbourne’s worst-designed streets and they’ve lost their local festival. Residents of this northern suburb say their council is doing nothing for them, and they want out.

Josh Barnes and Rachel Clayton

2 min read

February 26, 2019 - 12:00AM

Moreland Leader

Gowanbrae Residents Group members Rick Arden, Cheryl Arnett and Shanaka Perera say their suburb has been ignored. Picture: Mark Dadswell

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Homeowners in Moreland’s ‘forgotten suburb’ say they want to jump ship to a neighbouring municipality.

Members of the Gowanbrae Residents Group are lobbying for the suburb to become part of Moonee Valley, citing years of neglect from Moreland Council.

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Group secretary Rick Arden has lived in Gowanbrae for 14 years and said their attempts to communicate with the council were consistently ignored.

A walking path that leads directly into a fence, which the council hasn’t fixed, is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The path was originally planned to link Saggan Circle to the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail just metres below, but was instead abandoned, and blocked by a fence, Mr Arden said.

Mr Adren said walkers were sent hundreds of metres away to Lanark Way to link to the trail, which along with poor public transport showed the suburb wasn’t a priority for Moreland.

He also said the group asked for help to to keep the popular Gowanbrae Festival running this year, only to be turned down by the council.

Problems such as bad planning, notably in Duranta Drive, have plagued Gowanbrae.

Moreland Council’s community development director, Arden Joseph, said the request was denied because the council’s staff had just overseen a “large festival season”.

The festival has been indefinitely postponed.

“We’re a better fit in Moonee Valley. Moreland is an inner city council and we’re not inner city,” Mr Arden said.

Earlier this month, Moonee Valley Council wrote to state Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek to request it take control of the suburb, which had 2773 people in the 2016 census.

It is the only Moreland suburb not included in the federal seat of Wills. It sits in the seat of Maribyrnong, which contains the majority of Moonee Valley.

The suburb is sandwiched between three councils.

But Jamila Fontana, a spokeswoman for Mr Somyurek,said a change in boundaries would only take place if both councils agreed on the move and there was overwhelming evidence Gowanbrae wasn’t receiving good governance.

The residents group also wrote to the minister backing the proposal and started a petition at a local convenience store asking for the move. As of last week it had 34 signatures.

Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek has been asked to step in.

Residents group treasurer Shanaka Perera said at the very least the request had put Moreland Council on notice.

“(Don’t) take us for granted because we might pack up and leave,” he said.

A Facebook poll, run by Leader, showed Moonee Valley residents were split on the idea of adding another suburb, with 56 per cent of respondents backing the move.

But Moonee Valley resident Joy Foster feared the addition of a new suburb could spread services too thin.

“If Moonee Valley gets larger, more services will suffer,” she said.