Clements Reserve at Risk!
- Serena O'Meley
- 6 hours ago
- 7 min read
In 2018, Darebin Council committed to acquiring three parcels of State Government land that sit within Clements Reserve. At the Darebin Council meeting on 24 March 2026, that decision was abandoned, leaving the street frontage at McMahon Road at risk of sale and potential development. The item was put on the council agenda with no notice to any stakeholders and without consultation with affected community members.
This is a serious breach of trust for all community members who love and use the beautiful parkland at Clements Reserve and have for years waited for Darebin Council to secure the park's future and fix the lead contamination at the southern end of the park.
CONTENTS
How to take action to protect Clements Reserve
Watch the Clements Reserve agenda item online
Extract from the Darebin Council Minutes - Clements Reserve
Why Darebin Council can afford to purchase the land without affecting your rates
State Government policy regarding land sales
It's an election year and your local MPs can help save Clements Reserve!
Clearing up the lead contamination
There's still time to save Clements Reserve
Submission on Clements Reserve 24 March 2026 - Serena O'Meley
How to take action to protect Clements Reserve
The most important thing you can do right now is sign this Megaphone petition!
You can help prevent the sale of the land by writing to the Darebin Mayor and Councillors and writing to the Mr Nathan Lambert, MP (Member for Preston), and Hon. Colin Brooks, MP (Member for Bundoora), to raise your concerns.
You can cut and paste these email lists directly into your mail program:
Emily.Dimitriadis@darebin.vic.gov.au; Matt.Arturi@darebin.vic.gov.au; Connie.Boglis@darebin.vic.gov.au; Julie.O'Brien@darebin.vic.gov.au; Kristine.Olaris@darebin.vic.gov.au; Alexandra.Sangster@darebin.vic.gov.au; Vasilios.Tsalkos@darebin.vic.gov.au; Angela.Villella@darebin.vic.gov.au; Ruth.Jelley@darebin.vic.gov.au;
The next Darebin Council meeting is on 28 April 2026. You are entitled to ask three short questions which must be submitted no later than 12pm on the day of the meeting. You can ask your questions in person, online if you arrange it in advance, or if you cannot attend they will be read out by a Council Officer or the Mayor. Submit your questions here.
Watch the Clements Reserve agenda item online
I wrote to all councillors prior to 24 March 2026 Darebin Council meeting about the Clements Reserve agenda item but did not get a single response. Watch me here on video making a submission, followed by the limited discussion about the Clements Reserve agenda item before it was voted on by councillors. An edited transcript of my submission is at the end of this article.
Extract from the Darebin Council Minutes - Clements Reserve
You can download and read the resolution from the 24 March 2026 Darebin Council meeting on Clements Reserve below. The motion was moved by Cr Matt Arturi (Labor) and seconded by Cr Vasilios Tsalkos (Labor) who are Ward councillors in Reservoir.
The decision not to acquire the land is 'justified' by reference to there being financial pressures on Darebin Council; there already being good access to open space for residents in the area; and the small likelihood of the landlocked areas being sold. The resolution fails to mention the high risk that the McMahon Road portion of land, which has street frontage, could be sold on the open market, and it does not make any reference to the environmental significance of creekside land. The resolution shifts the onus for saving the land onto the two local Labor MPs. It's doubtful that either was given a heads up by their Labor colleagues on Darebin Council regarding this imposition.
It's an election year and your local MPs can help save Clements Reserve!
It is an election year in Victoria and the electoral boundaries of two Labor MPs fall literally in the middle of Clements Reserve - those of Mr Nathan Lambert, MP (Member for Preston) and the Hon. Colin Brooks, MP (Member for Bundoora). They can be lobbied to ask the Department of Transport and Planning defer the sale of the land, and to help facilitate its acquisition by Darebin Council. I have written to both MPs asking for their intervention and ask that you do the same. I have received a sympathetic hearing from Nathan and staff in his office but as yet there is no specific commitment regarding the future of the land. I have only just written to Colin and will follow up next week.
Why Darebin Council can afford to purchase the land without affecting your rates
Darebin Council receives money from developers when they subdivide land to create two or more additional lots. The use of these funds is legally restricted under Section 20 of the Subdivision Act 1988. Darebin Council must use this money solely to purchase new parkland or improve existing public open space. In other words, this is not ratepayer money and its expenditure does not affect the overall budget position of Darebin Council.
I confirmed during Public Question Time that Darebin Council will have at least $7.5 million in the reserve by the end of this financial year, and that it had already budgeted $1.57 million in a future year to buy the land within Clements Reserve. It's unclear whether this budgeted amount takes into account any discount that likely would apply from the State Government. It is also unclear whether there has been a new valuation of the land since one was done in 2019.
State Government policy regarding land sales
The State Government can offer the land to Darebin Council for a community use at less than its market value if Council agrees to restrictions on its title (see the Victorian Government Landholding Policy and Guidelines October 2025, p.26). In similar land sales, the discounts have been in the order of 50%-60% of the market value for the land. Given that it is creekside land, with an Environmental Significance Overlay and a Significant Landscape Overlay (from December 2025), a six-foot wide Melbourne Water easement near the McMahon Road fence line, and some of the land is landlocked, it should be possible to negotiate a highly discounted sale price.
The State Government is unlikely to 'gift' the land to Council as effectively demanded by Cr Angela Villella (Independent) during the debate, because if it did so every other local government in Victoria would expect similar treatment, placing unsustainable pressure on the State Government's budget. This 'gifting' strategy has comprehensively failed at Darebin Council in the past.
Once Council formally refuses the land, and assuming there is no interest from other government departments or from Traditional Owners, the State Government can offer the land for sale on the open market. That's why it is so urgent that this matter be resolved immediately.
Clearing up the lead contamination and maintaining the park
Darebin Council and the Department of Transport and Planning have received an Environment Action Notice (EAN) requiring them to clean up the lead contamination in the park which comes from a circa-World War I shooting range and is up to 1400% above EPA health limits. Both levels of government have been aware of this contamination since 2021. Council has provided no explanation for why it would cut down more than a dozen trees during remediation of the lead contamination, and why it will not rewild the area as previously envisaged.
It's also worth noting that the park has been seriously neglected by Darebin Council for years with failure to weed garden beds at the entrance of the park and near the creek path, and infrequent mowing of the grass. Residents in the north of Darebin deserve better.
There's still time to save Clements Reserve
The time to act is now!
You can help by:
Signing the petition
Asking questions at the next Darebin Council meeting
Writing to the Darebin Mayor and Councillors
Writing to the Member for Preston and the Member for Bundoora
Details about these actions and relevant email addresses are at the top of this article.
Your support will make all the difference!
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Submission on Clements Reserve 24 March 2026 - Serena O'Meley
I’ve read the agenda item for Clements Reserve and I’m genuinely shocked. The resolution asks Council to walk away from a commitment it has held since 2018 to acquire this land. There are three parcels involved. Two are landlocked - but the McMahon Road parcel is prime real estate with full street frontage leading towards Darebin Creek.
If the land is sold, it will damage the [environmental] integrity and visual amenity of the reserve.
Council has already recognised in previous resolutions the importance of this land as part of an integrated creek corridor supporting biodiversity and passive recreation.
There has been no meaningful consultation on this change in direction. Key stakeholders - including the Darebin Creek Management Committee, Friends of Darebin Creek, and myself, as a long-involved resident - were not consulted before this item appeared on the agenda.
The report also omits critical planning context. This land is now covered by both an Environmental Significance Overlay, and a Significant Landscape Overlay that was only introduced in December.
The silent assumption that the State Government will simply retain the land is misconceived. The government is under financial pressure and is highly likely to sell, particularly the McMahon Road frontage.
Council has gone down this path before [by attempting to secure land at no cost from the State Government]. We were only able to save the former Ruthven Primary School (now Wat Ganbo Park) and Lakeside (next to the Merri Creek) from the government’s fast track land sales process by a concerted community campaign. The Dumbarton grassland was not as lucky and it will soon be built on despite being identified in Council’s own reports as including vegetation of National Natural Heritage Significance.
Council was given First Right of Refusal for all of these parcels of land, including Clements Reserve, as referenced in a Council agenda item of October 2015. More than a decade later it is still recklessly playing chicken with the State Government over community assets.
Walking away from the purchase would be a clear breach of Council’s previous commitments and community expectations. It would be yet more evidence of residents north of Bell Street being treated as second class citizens.
There is more than enough money in the Public Open Space and Recreation Reserve to make the purchase. I strongly urge Council to honour its commitments, protect the reserve, and recommit to acquiring this land for the long term.
Change to the remediation plan
In terms of remediation, it’s also concerning that just four trees will be retained in the contaminated zone and that the currently fenced off area will simply be folded into the park as a grassed zone. A previous resolution of council in October 2021 included a concept plan with extensive rewilding, mulch, rocks and logs. In other words a biodiverse space. This has been entirely dropped without explanation.
-end of submission
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