Elsie Lange
Macedon Ranges council will ask the Victorian government to purchase privately owned lots within the area known as Barrm Birrm, overlooking Riddells Creek.
At a meeting on August 24, councillor Annette Death raised a motion requesting council’s advocacy on the matter, to write to the government notifying them of the motion and to ask council staff to prepare a report on the “appropriate management” of the space.
Barrm Birrm, meaning ‘place of many roots’, is an accessible, 120 hectare area known locally as the Shone & Scholz Land, divided into 162 lots and owned by 98 different land holders.
The number of lots is due to legacy planning from the 1880s, and Cr Death’s motion said due to the site’s “natural values, high fire risk and lack of services”, the land was not suitable for development.
“As a result, current planning controls prevent development in the estate – creating frustration for some of its owners,” the motion said.
“The use of the site by multiple landholders is degrading the natural values, via the destruction of flora from illegal camping, firewood collection, fencing, four wheel driving and dirt bikes.
“The resources required by council to manage these threats is high and increasing.”
According to the motion, the area has woodlands in both private and council ownership, which supports high conservation assets and threatened flora species.
“[It] is an opportunity to provide much needed open space for the Riddells Creek community for passive recreation such as bushwalking, picnics and appreciating local biodiversity,” the motion said.
Council said the “complex ownership” of the site is negatively affecting the appropriate management of the site, increasing the fire risk to Riddells Creek.
Right now, council operates a scheme which encourages the transfer of the private land parcels to council, called a “gift back” – but the process is slow and relies on the voluntary participation of landowners.
“A much more efficient and effective alternative to reflect the high conservation assets and threatened flora species on the site, would be public acquisition of the land,” the motion said.
“The state government [is] best placed to progress a public acquisition process for the land.”
