By Tanya Steele
Drains, roads, infrastructure and more are proposed in the budget draft for the Yarra Ranges that was recently released, with a number of plans proposed for the Hills area.
Submissions from the public are open to residents until 27 April, with a hearing of submissions to councillors scheduled for a special meeting on 6 May and the final budget will be considered in June.
In the tourism sector Yarra Ranges Council corporate services director Vince Lombardi said Yarra Ranges is a tourist Mecca, both state and nationally.
“So we’re building Ngurrak barring, we’ve got the Walk on Country and we’re doing the Warburton Mountain Bike Trail,’ he said.
ngurrak barring Ridgewalk has a budget set for $2.1 million, continuing its planned 39km trail through the Dandenong Ranges that will establish new spaces for education, cultural expression and social gathering.
Locals may have noticed the recent addition of artworks in both Birdsland and Grants Picnic Ground which are part of the project.
With a total forecast spend of $46.2 million on infrastructure the draft budget will include a road sealing program priced at $3.2 million with a $1.3 million slice included for Belgrave Heights.
The Belgrave Rail Trail is set to have audit findings implemented to ensure compliance with shared path guidelines – the $230,400 in funds budgeted includes a TAC Grant.
The Safer Local Roads program meant that the council has received $2,340,000 from the State Government for the delivery of traffic safety improvements on local roads, but the projects are subject to the Department of Transport and Planning approval and proposed projects will include traffic safety improvements on Main Street in Upwey.
The Upwey township also has $50,000 bookmarked for upgrading the main street car parking, footpaths, street furniture, roadside and street tree planting. The extent of work is mainly a section of Main Street between Morris Road and Mahony Street which includes both roundabouts.
Footpaths are on the agenda with renewals planned across the Shire, Best Street and the Belgrave Rail Trail in Belgrave, Sophia Grove in Tecoma, along with Emberson Street, Monbulk Road in Kallista and Kallista-Emerald Road.
Yarra Ranges Council Mayor Jim Child said they’ve heard the community as far as the drainage issues are concerned.
“We’ve got a very large component of assets out there, which we have to maintain and there’s also asset renewal as well,” he said.
“The community has told us that, yes, they want us to keep that body of work going.”
In total across the Yarra Ranges, $3.9 million will be expended on drainage projects with several works planned across the Dandenongs.
Arbor Avenue in Belgrave has work proposed to address flooding and erosion issues with a price tag of $330,000 listed, works on Dalkeith Crescent, and the construction of drainage upgrades to mitigate flooding is also planned in Main Street, Upwey.
Ridge Road in Mount Dandenong has works listed for drainage at 105 and 107 Ridge Road and drainage improvement works for outlet discharge are listed for William Ricketts Sanctuary – Observatory Road. There are also plans for the design and construction of drainage along an existing table drain located at 19-21 Hunter Street, Monbulk.
In sports, the Belgrave Oval is pencilled in for some lighting work, while the Upwey Recreation Reserve main oval has a total of $725,000 in funds allocated for rehab and synthetic surface renewal.
For buildings in the Ranges, a public toilet renewal in Sassafras is planned, along with improvements to the Kallista Community House and Cedar Court Road Group in Monbulk
In the environmental sector, the council plans to continue the Ribbons of Green and Gardens for Wildlife programs, which help residents transform their properties to support biodiversity.
There are also plans to expand the grant-funded program to protect the platypus in the Monbulk Creek catchment and develop a progressive Green Wedge management plan to support appropriate outcomes in the Green Wedge areas.
Residents can find out more draft budget details and have their say at:
shaping.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/council-budget-2025-26
