Dear Editor,
The Darwin Council treats green space as a liability. The 560 ha of Darwin green space costs the council $9.4 million per year and for them, community gardens have no place in it, they’re an added cost.
The council’s single bottom line operation doesn’t make sense when the main way to reduce city running costs will be to fit more people into higher density semi-detached housing and apartments.
Giving Darwin residents access to community-run green space in community gardens will become a serious quality of life issue in the future.
This was news in the late 19th century when town planning principles were developing, and included community gardens as critical infrastructure to prevent urban slum development and create social cohesion.
But the Darwin Council discriminates against community stewardship of public green space by making community running gardens on their land, pay council running costs that residents are already paying them rates for.
It doesn’t make sense!
The council could increase community managed green space to five to 10 per cent of the 560 ha total area, maintain strong control, reduce their landscape maintenance costs by five to 10 per cent, and have an environmental asset that lets them run a bigger city more efficiently in the future, and give a lot of people a better lifestyle.
Our community garden runs on subscriptions and doesn’t cost them anything.
Ian Hollingsworth,
Jingili community gardens committee president
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Kon and co need to watch the ABC gardening show. Lots of community gardens all over the country. Perhaps if they got advice from others they would not be being loud and unco-operative with their voters. Maybe Mayor Kon prefers to be king of the concrete jungle?
Biggest problem i can see for councils is “public liability” Councils parks are made as safe as possible by following basically Australian design rules ie: look at children’s play equipment it is the reason that council don’t allow ratepayers to build their own swings in a park.The same goes for anything that council allows to happen on their land,weddings,party’s,community gardens etc etc.If someone gets injured in a community garden[even someone pinching plants] council is liable.Perhaps if Mr shillingsworth or the committee could find a way to accept liability for injuries then it would be better,As for con the concretor’s input basically “if it’s not his idea then he won’t support it”