25 February 2022

A new bridge for Moonee Ponds Creek

Funding for a new bridge has been jointly provided by Moreland City Council and Moonee Valley City Council with construction to occur as part of the waterway works led by Melbourne Water.

There are currently two bridges that cross Moonee Ponds Creek in the project area. The bridge located between Strathmore North Primary School and Margaret Street in Oak Park will be replaced with a new bridge as it is the older of the two and only 1.2 metres in width.

The new pedestrian and cyclist bridge will be approximately 26.5 metres in length, 3.0 metres wide and will be located immediately upstream of the existing bridge in order to minimise disruption impacts on the community during construction. The late inclusion of this new bridge has had an impact on the design development as we extend our design to include the new paths and bridge connections prior to commencing construction.

Vegetation management

To facilitate the works there will be impacts to both native and non-native vegetation. The project team have worked diligently to minimise and reduce the impact on existing vegetation wherever possible. The project will remove 0.323ha of native vegetation including 34 trees, of which 12 are non-indigenous. Of the 34 trees, 12 of them will be removed from along Brosnan Crescent to allow the construction of a shared path and 15 will be removed at the location of the new pond. Between Brosnan Crescent and the waterway 114 trees will be kept. The project will plant a total of 31,000 native plants within the project area and at another suitable location to offset the vegetation removals of the project.

Map showing location of vegetation removal.  15 trees will be removed in the vicinity of the pond.  12 trees will be removed to accomodate the new shared path whilst 114 trees will be retained along the shared path.

Map showing vegetation removals

Planning approvals

The Minister for Planning is in the process of determining whether the Reimagining Moonee Ponds Creek project can be considered under the Clause 52.30 – State project planning provision in the Moonee Valley and Moreland Planning Schemes.

This planning provision provides a standardised planning process to facilitate the assessment of state projects to support Victoria’s economic recovery from coronavirus (COVID-19).

This assessment process will include consideration of potential environmental, amenity and construction impacts of the project and a range of requirements must be met before works can commence.

Community and stakeholder feedback on the Reimagining Moonee Ponds Creek project form an important part of Clause 52.30. To support this process Melbourne Water is seeking community feedback on a range of planning matters including:

  • Construction related impacts;
  • Environmental impacts;
  • Amenity impacts;
  • Native vegetation; and
  • Heritage

  • Please send any feedback you have on these topics to [email protected]

    Consultation will close at 11.59pm Sunday 13 March 2022.

    Updated timelines

    The inclusion of the new bridge and the Clause 52.30 planning requirements, have delayed the start of the project. We are anticipating construction will start in April 2022 and will take us through to June 2022.

    In the first phase, we will undertake construction of the shared user path on the Brosnan Crescent side of the creek.

    We will return in November 2022 to commence the in-channel and the remaining ground and landscaping works. The project is due for completion in mid-2023.