Since 2020, the Moonee Ponds Creek pathway in Docklands has been fenced off to make way for the expansion of the Docklands studios sound stage. I’m urging the Minister for Planning to activate this green corridor again for the growing Docklands population.
Join me in asking the Minister to act now so local residents can enjoy this corridor again.
Open letter to the Minister for Planning
Dear Minister Kilkenny,
I write to urgently call on you to restore public access to the Moonee Ponds Creek trail in Docklands and deliver the open space protections our community was promised.
For decades, the shared path along the Moonee Pond Creek connected Ron Barassi Snr Park to Footscray Rd, giving residents a rare stretch of accessible waterway parkland in a suburb starved of greenery. Yet since 2020, this path has been fenced off to make way for the expansion of the Docklands studios sound stage. Not only was the path closed, the land beneath it was handed over for car parking, resulting in the trail never being reinstated on its original alignment. Residents are now diverted along Pearl River Rd, a bitumen footpath running alongside heavy traffic, with no meaningful connection back to the creek.
Back in 2015 when the Port of Melbourne was privatised, the community was given assurance by the Minister for Ports that public access to open space corridors such as this one would be retained. That commitment has not been honoured.
Meanwhile, the creek’s lower reaches remain neglected: overrun by litter, without adequate signage and disconnected from the broader trail network that cyclists and walkers rely on.
Minister, the community in Docklands has waited long enough. I urge you to:
- Release the Moonee Ponds Creek Implementation Plan without further delay
- Work with the local community groups, including Friends of Moonee Ponds Creek and Community 3008 to activate this corridor for the growing Docklands population
Sincerely,
Ellen Sandell
Greens MP for Melbourne
