Brimbank council has drawn praise after collecting a fourth award for its Creating Better Parks policy.
Western suburbs Greens MP Colleen Hartland said the council had “done an amazing job” restoring Brimbank’s flagship parks.
The council won a planning excellence award in the ‘transforming the public realm’ category of the Planning Institute of Australia awards on November 6.
The council is preparing a major update to its 2008 policy, which established five flagship parks and boosted funding for maintenance, at a cost of $20 million.
About 1000 residents have already provided feedback to the draft update.
Ms Hartland’s praise came less than two months after Brimbank Greens national secretary Alex Schlotzer, a candidate for Sydenham in last year’s state election, slammed the policy as “a failed plan to sell parks and gardens”.
Chairman of administrators John Watson said the award, the fourth since 2008, was due recognition for a lot of hard work.
“It’s a significant achievement and further recognition of Brimbank as a leader in planning excellence.”
Ms Hartland said she hoped the updated policy would include more spending on smaller spaces.
“They’ve proven they can do it with the big ones, so I think they can perfectly replicate that into the smaller neighbourhood parks,” she said.
By Ed Gardiner
