Tuesday, 4 November, 2025
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A Star News Group Publication
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Experience spring delight
Ridgefield owner and custodian Joanne Painter stands under the rose arbour. (Stewart Chambers: 513567)
Coldstream’s Ridgefield will be one of two gardens to open its gates to the community over the weekend of 8 and 9 November, providing an insight into acclaimed landscape designer Robert Boyle, who designed the property 25 years ago. Now owners Joanne Painter and Chris Dodds, who purchased the three-acre property in 2023, see themselves as custodians of this spectacular garden. From the formal areas, to the orchard and now perfumery, Ridgefield has so much to offer a curious visitor, making for the perfect day out. And just around the corner in Gruyere, Bentwood will open for the same weekend, showcasing a couple’s labour of love and desire to replenish the soil for a climate resilient garden. These gardens will open with thanks to Open Gardens Victoria. See page 12 for more
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But, concerns surrounding provisions left in the master plan for the potential sale of the southwest corner. McDermott Netball Court Parkland Redevelopment group member Mark Sheedy said it was essential for the whole site to be retained as public open space. “Splitting or reducing the site for housing undermines the vision of a continuous circuit and a truly inclusive, active recreational space for Mooroolbark.” But the council argued this was necessary as
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showed there wasn’t any surplus space and a neighbourhood level reserve of at least one hectare is still needed. The council has also released a draft master plan based on community feedback from consultations, first in 2020 and again in late 2024 into early 2025. Resident Cam Hunter, whose property backs onto the reserve, told Star Mail in February that the council’s reengagement with the community was a welcome step forward for the area.
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In what was a big win for the Mooroolbark community, the Yarra Ranges Council has ensured the McDermott Avenue Reserve remains open space for the growing population. Councillors unanimously voted to retain the land at the 28 October council meeting, which went against a 2015 resolution which marked the land as being “surplus” space to be “made ready for possible future sale”. Ten years ago, the council’s investigation found the McDermott Avenue Reserve to be surplus land, but findings from recent assessments
it gave the council flexibility for other land uses in the case that housing investigations were effective. Councillor Mitch Mazzarella said at the meeting these were only future housing considerations and not set in stone. “That doesn’t mean Council will be selling off that portion of land. It means that we’ll be investigating, and it means what we want to hear from you,” he said. Read more on page 5
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