Keilor’s historic Horseshoe Bend Farm will reopen next week, six years after Parks Victoria closed it to the public.
At a hastily convened meeting last Thursday night, Parks Victoria revealed the 26-hectare reserve will open to the public on October 5.
The announcement comes after years of protracted negotiations over the lease of the farm, which includes a 1930s cottage, stables and a number of outbuildings. The negotiations collapsed last year, prompting Parks Victoria to consider a “more community-focused approach” to managing Horseshoe Bend.
The farm was most recently operated by disability service Mambourin. The organisation gave up running the business in January 2011, citing failed negotiations to draw up a lease with Parks Victoria.
Before Mambourin moved in, youth disability service WestNet run the farm for about five years.
In October 2012, Parks Victoria began an ‘expressions of interest’ process to find another business to operate the reserve.
Parks Victoria said an alliance of five organisations had been appointed as the preferred lease holder, “subject to the satisfactory resolution of a number of issues”. Negotiations eventually fell through last year.
In a statement released last week, Parks Victoria said it would manage the historic site “for the foreseeable future and reopen Horseshoe Bend to pedestrian access to allow visitors and the local community to enjoy the park and the adjacent Maribyrnong River”.
Niddrie MP Ben Carroll said about 40 people attended last Thursday night’s meeting, despite a letter-drop informing nearby residents of the meeting just three days beforehand. Mr Carroll said some people at the meeting raised concerns about parking and access to the park, which is only accessible from Horseshoe Bend Road.
Cars will not be allowed in the reserve when it reopens, meaning people will have to park in the street.
“Maybe one day we’ll have parking inside the farm, but at the moment let’s just get the park opened,” Mr Carroll said.
The park will be opened 24 hours a day.
It will also be open to dogs.
