Farmhouse Park Makeover

Improvements being made to Farmhouse Park 

If you live in Riverslea you may have noticed we’re doing some work at Farmhouse Park. 

The majority of the large open space is staying, but we’re increasing the garden beds to plant some native shrubs as well as more fruit trees for locals to enjoy.  We’re doing this for a few reasons.

Our parks and garden team has noticed that some of the existing trees are in poor health. These include some of the fruit trees that were planted near the original farmhouse that existed before the suburb was created. Expanding the gardens will allow new trees to be established before we need to eventually remove the old trees. The gardens will also help to form a buffer between the park and the road, to help keep children safe.

Overall, we’ll be reducing the lawn area by 12%, so there will still be plenty of room for the kids to run around or kick a footy. Reducing the amount of grass will also decrease some maintenance costs.  We’ll also be installing the kerbing around the gardens as this reduces the need for chemical weed control.

For a project of this size, we don’t typically undertake a public consultation process, although we should have informed local residents that the works were planned. This was an oversight of the Shire’s behalf. We’ve met with several local residents this morning to get their feedback and will accommodate their suggestions where possible. We'll also be engaging with the local community about the types of fruit trees we intend to plant in coming weeks.

Works have commenced and we expect to have the most of project finished by the end of April, before undertaking planting in winter. Residents are invited to provide any feedback by email to: [email protected]