By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
COUNCILLORS have urgently called for safety fencing between a Dandenong South playground and a floodway that claimed a young boy’s life last year.
City of Greater Dandenong councillor Jim Memeti is set to lobby for the safety move at the Metro 3175 playground at tonight’s council meeting (Monday).
The parkland off Keneally Street in the Metro 3175 estate overlooks Dandenong Creek’s steep grassy banks for several hundred metres and is unguarded by any fence, railing or warning sign.
Councillor Peter Brown called for fencing to cordon off the park as well as the directly-opposite creekside reserve with a playground and walking track off Dalgety Street.
Cr Brown said he’d first realised in May how “treacherous” the attractive parkland was.
“I was walking in the area. It had been raining the night before and the grass was quite slippery,” he said.
“I thought it would take just a kid to slip down the bank and end of story.”
Four months later, about 600 metres upstream, Doveton boy Ishmael Baqaie was swept away and drowned in the creek flushed with stormwaters after slipping down a grass bank at Dandenong Park’s playground.
The playground was enclosed by safety fencing except for a concrete ledge overlooking the bank.
Since last year’s tragic drowning, Greater Dandenong Council has installed extra fencing around the ledge.
For the most part, the creek’s banks in the park are unguarded.
Cr Brown warned the council could well suffer an “adverse finding” at a likely coronial inquiry into the tragedy.
“Even if we don’t get an adverse finding, we need to find funding in (June’s) budget for public safety, which includes fencing and a sign warning of a slippery slope.”
Engineering director Julie Reid said the council was undertaking a review of all of its playgrounds and “considering any reasonable steps that may be required to minimise risks”.
Cr Memeti said the dangers were obvious.
“When I saw the area, alarm bells rang for me.
“Families are going to have barbecues there and stay for a couple of hours. When you’re there for that long you can’t watch your child for every second.”
Cr Angela Long, whose now-adult son as a youngster had a close call in a drainage pit, supported fencing-off playgrounds adjoining the creek if it was financially feasible.
Cr Matthew Kirwan said playgrounds near the creek should be secured by fences and/or warning signs but fencing-off all creek parklands from Mt Dandenong to Port Phillip would be unrealistic.
“I think it is both a case of dealing with areas that are high-risk like playgrounds but also educating residents that the Dandenong Creek is a floodplain.”
