Tuesday, 17 June 2025

 Matthew GUY (Bulleen) (19:00): (1181) My matter tonight is to the Minister for Transport Infrastructure in relation to the Big Build, and while the matter I raise tonight is in relation to the Timber Ridge Reserve pressure-reducing station, which is a water facility, it is being approved under the auspices of the Big Build and its planning facilitation is coming through as part of the Big Build. As a consequence, the reason I raise the issue in relation to the Timber Ridge Reserve pressure-reducing station in Doncaster is because there was a water pressure reducing station that was located near the Eastern Freeway. It has had to be moved as the Eastern Freeway works are ongoing, and that facility needs to be put in place to manage the population growth around central Doncaster. I accept that, and residents accept that too, and it does need to be moved away from its current site, although why a site close to the Eastern Freeway was not chosen when there are many of them is perplexing.

That aside, the site chosen is along a street called Timber Ridge, which is further up towards Doncaster Hill, and it is at the Timber Ridge Reserve. I want to read, if I can, into Hansard from the government’s Big Build website the description of the pressure-reducing station. It says:

As part of the Eastern Freeway upgrade, we’re relocating a Pressure Reducing Station (PRS) to Timber Ridge Reserve and upgrading water mains on Ayr Street and Timber Ridge.

Fair enough.

The new station will be housed in a compact 18.9m x 15.1m structure at the corner of Timber Ridge Reserve, requiring only a small portion of the reserve.

Residents quite obviously take issue with the term ‘compact’ for a 19-by-15-metre structure. I accept that some of it will be underground, but 19 by 15 metres is around 285 square metres, which is half a modern housing block size. It is the size of a four- to five-bedroom house, two-thirds the size of a basketball court and around 11 to 14 car spaces. To give you an indication, a tennis court is 260 square metres, so a 285-square-metre facility is quite large, and residents are quite concerned about it. Permission from the council still has not been granted, yet Yarra Valley Water has removed trees on this site. The open space which is set to disappear right next to a playground is going to lock that playground off from Timber Ridge.

There is an alternative further along Timber Ridge. Opposite St Malo Avenue there is a location where the facility could be located, and it could be located away from right next door to residential homes. My action item tonight is to ask the minister to investigate relocating this facility at that location and to spare Doncaster residents the problems and the issues of living next to a 24-hour facility that will create noise issues for them that they have not been experiencing to date.