By Casey Neill
“It looks more like a tip than an entrance to Dandenong.”
Bob Malcolm lives near the Mile Creek’s intersection with Cheltenham Road and regularly walks along the waterway.
“It’s a disgrace,” he said.
“Graffiti is plastered all over the concrete walls. Trees and shrubs have died. The rubbish has piled up.
“What plants you can see are surrounded by cans, tins, cartons.
“Somebody could be knocked off and their body could be dumped there and nobody would find it for months.”
The Journal first raised Mr Malcolm’s concerns on 20 April last year and he said nothing had changed.
“It’s exactly the same as it was then, plus there’s been rubbish added to it,” he said.
“If it was in a front yard of a private house they would be getting in trouble from the council.”
He said the problem had developed since EastLink was built.
“It was a picture,” he said.
“There’s been no maintenance done whatsoever and that’s very disappointing.”
Greater Dandenong Council’s Engineering Services Director Julie Reid said the council, Melbourne Water and VicRoads shared responsibility for maintaining the area.
She said Melbourne Water was responsible for the waterway, banks and landscaped areas up to a perimeter fence that ran along each side of the creek.
The council is responsible for the shared bicycle and pedestrian path and landscaping on the eastern side of the creek between the Melbourne Water fence and adjacent private properties.
VicRoads is responsible for the small sections of creek frontage along Cheltenham Road.
“Due to the recent storms there does appear to be more litter along the banks of the creek (within the fenced area) that we will refer on to Melbourne Water for action,” Ms Reid said.
“A smaller amount of wind-blown litter was also observed along the base of the fence in the council-maintained areas immediately adjacent to Cheltenham Road, as well as within the VicRoads-maintained garden bed on the north side.
“Council will clean up these areas next week, then monitor to determine if they should be placed on an ongoing proactive litter collection program.”
Melbourne Water’s South East Waterways and Land Manager John Woodland said the authority spent about $30,000 in the past year on litter removal along the creek.
He said litter threatened plant and animal life and wasted Melbourne Water resources.
Mr Woodland urged people to report littering to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) on 1300 372 842.
“We encourage the community to report rubbish in waterways directly to us on 131 722,” he said.
EastLink spokesman Doug Spencer-Roy said the company collected litter and rubbish generated by its road users.
“Furthermore, EastLink road drainage passes through water treatment trains which trap litter prior to the water being discharged into Mile Creek,” he said.
“We are confident that our established processes for litter control are not contributing to the litter in Mile Creek.”
Mr Spencer-Roy said EastLink’s landscaping was intended to be “like a natural environment, incorporating millions of native trees, shrubs and plants, and a habitat for wildlife”.
