Gowanbrae Residents Group wants CCTV system installed despite having lowest crime rate in Moreland

DESPITE living in one of the safest suburbs in Melbourne’s north, Gowanbrae residents want to install a CCTV system in their suburb.

Gowanbrae residents Shanaka Perera and Cheryl Arnett with one of the 46 trees vandalised in Primula Blvd. Picture: James Ross

MORELAND’S safest suburb wants to set up its own CCTV system to stamp out all crime in the community.

At a recent Gowanbrae Residents Group community meeting, people discussed setting up cameras on private land at the only two entrances into the suburb to monitor comings and goings.

Vandals recently caused about $15,000 of damage in Primula Blvd by chopping down 46 new trees.

But acts like this are rare — the suburb is Moreland’s safest, with only 77 offences reported during the 2016-17 financial year compared to 2808 in Brunswick for the same period, according to the Crime Statistics Agency.

Group president Ron Dorre said all residents he knew wanted the cameras.

“Because we are a unique suburb, we only have one way in and one way out, we can easily cover that entrance with cameras,” Mr Dorre said.

The only way cars can enter or exit Gowanbrae is by using Coventry St, and pedestrian traffic has another option to use a footbridge from Adelaide Blvd across the Moonee Ponds Creek to Outlook Drive in Glenroy.

Moreland Mayor John Kavanagh, who is also a ward councillor for Gowanbrae, said he was “deeply disappointed” to hear of the tree vandalism, but he felt Gowanbrae was an otherwise safe ­suburb.

Cr Kavanagh said he thought it was “highly unlikely” the council would support the suburb’s push for CCTV, but it was up to residents if they wanted to put it on private property.

“It’s the safest suburb in Moreland, it’s not a high traffic area, it doesn’t have licensed premises,” he said.

“It’s probably not that unusual (a request) for Gowanbrae, because they are quite a close-knit community.”