Whittlesea Council bulldozes homemade teens’ BMX trail twice in Doreen
A group of Doreen teenagers spent two months shovelling dirt into perfect mounds for an epic BMX trail. But they were left shattered — not once, but twice — when council officers stormed the site and bulldozed the construction.
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Whittlesea Council has twice bulldozed a BMX dirt bike track built by a savvy group of local teenagers.
The teens spent two months planning and shovelling mounds of dirt to create the perfect BMX bike track at Hilltop Park in Doreen until the council gutted the site last week.
They then then rebuilt the track — only to arrive at the site off Landano Way and find it had been bulldozed for a second time last week.
Noah Jablonski told Leader he and his six mates just wanted “to do something nice” for the community, but continued to hit a dead-end.
“Doreen and Laurimar needs a place where kids, teenagers, adults and elders can have fun, get off the streets and learn to ride a bike,” the 14-year-old said.
“They can learn to do jumps and then get better until they can hit the big jumps.”
Noah’s mother Linda said local children and teenagers “were itching” to get out of their homes and do something active.
“You’ve got 2000 kids at the local high school alone,” she said.
“Just last weekend there were kids everywhere on bikes, everywhere you looked.
“These dirt bike trails are nothing but a harmless way to give youth in the area something to do during a very tough time in their lives.
“There is no sport, no going to school — they need something to do, just let them have this.”
More than 1000 people have signed an online petition calling for the council to take over and build a BMX track.
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Whittlesea Council acting chief executive Joe Carbone said the dirt jumps had “gradually increased over time” causing a “significant environmental impact to the grassland”.
But he was open to considering input from the Doreen community.
“Council supports young people enjoying and experiencing our open spaces — however, it is our duty to the whole community that safety and access is maintained at all times for everyone,” he said.
“Council has engaged with the Doreen community on a number of occasions in recent times, explaining the hazard that these dirt jumps create and asking for them to be removed from public open space.
“We are working with the young people, and their families, involved in building these dirt jumps and open to exploring a new outdoor activity.”