The Manningham Community Panel has reached a significant milestone, charting a course for the future after delivering its final recommendations to Council.

Manningham Mayor Councillor Deirdre Diamante said the Panel’s insights will be invaluable in ensuring that the Council’s strategic plans are grounded in the community's needs and aspirations. 

“By listening to the voices of our community, we’re ensuring that our decisions and actions reflect and align with what matters most to our residents,” Cr Diamante said.   

 

“The Panel has played a crucial role in this process, comprising members from diverse age groups, cultural backgrounds and geographic locations that represent the unique tapestry of our community. 

 

“This collaborative approach will help enable us to create a more inclusive, resilient, sustainable and vibrant community for all.”

The Panel was established to identify Manningham's key priorities, challenges and opportunities – to help guide the Council’s strategic plans. This includes the Community Vision 2040, the four-year Council Plan, and the 10-year Asset and Financial Plans.

Throughout the process, Panel members deliberated for approximately 1,680 collective hours and heard from over 50 speakers from Council and community. 

They handed over their recommendations to Council at the final meeting on 1 February 2025. They span several themes including community safety, transport, open spaces and more. 

“Over the coming weeks, we’ll prepare a response to each of the panel’s recommendations, including how they will be implemented or the reasons for not supporting any recommendation,” Cr Diamante said. 

 

“We’re sincerely grateful to the panel members for their time and efforts during this dynamic process and committed to implementing the panel’s recommendations to the fullest extent possible. We’ll ensure their insights are carefully considered in all our decision-making as we plan ahead for Manningham,” the Mayor added.

For further information and stay up to date, visit yoursay.manningham.vic.gov.au/help-shape-manninghams-future

Manningham Council is seeking community feedback on a proposal to rebuild an expanded Gum Nut Gully Preschool at a new nearby location in Doncaster East.

The current preschool building in Larnoo Drive is reaching its end of life and is unable to expand to provide more places for local families.

“The much-loved Gum Nut Gully Preschool has been part of our community for almost 40 years,” Manningham Mayor Deirdre Diamante said.

“We value the unique services like the bush kinder program and want to ensure the preschool can continue providing local children with quality early years education for many more years to come.”

Council has received Victorian Government funding through the Building Blocks program to build a new modular two-room preschool with places for 66 children in 3 and 4-year-old kinder programs.

However, investigations have found the modular preschool cannot be built at the existing location without significant impact on trees and vegetation. Challenging site conditions also make the project unviable.  

Corsican Reserve, 400m away in Corsican Avenue, has been identified as the most suitable nearby location. Manningham Council is inviting feedback on this proposal and no decision has yet been made. Under the proposal, the existing Larnoo Drive site would be retained for community use.

“We want to support local families by providing them access to more free kinder places locally as well as replace the ageing facility,” Cr Diamante said.

“There are many important considerations, and we want to hear what the community has to say before making any decisions about this proposal,” Cr Diamante said.

The proposal is open for community feedback until 11:59pm, Tuesday 2 September at Your Say Manningham.
 

With support from Manningham Council, the new Jackson Court Traders Association has seen the launch of its first initiative – a welcoming new sign at Jackson Court Shopping Centre.

Formed just over a year ago, the Jackson Court Traders Association advocates for its businesses, collaborates with Council, pursues funding opportunities and creates initiatives to promote the popular activity centre.

Jackson Court has more than 90 businesses, making it one of Manningham’s busiest and most vibrant centres. 

The new sign on Doncaster Road is designed to showcase the mix of local businesses and advertise the centre.

Manningham Council supports activity centres with infrastructure upgrades, business support and planning. At Jackson Court, Council helped establish the traders’ association with registration, governance, communication and business development support.

President of the Jackson Court Traders Association, Con Valsamis said the sign brings a new look and increased advertising space for businesses at the centre.

"As a group, we have so many ideas on ways to continue improving this important shopping district. This new signage is a big step towards us achieving these goals,” Mr Valsamis said.

“A big thank you to my fellow committee members for their passion and dedication and to Manningham Council for their support in setting up our traders association.” 

“We want to bring this area to life and really show people what we at Jackson Court have to offer,” Mr Valsamis added. 

You can follow Jackson Court Traders Association on Instagram @jacksoncourt.doncaster.

Manningham Council property purchase sets the stage for new community house

Manningham Council has signed the contract to purchase 576-578 Park Road, Park Orchards as part of its planning for a new Park Orchards Community House and Learning Centre.

A priority action in Council’s Community Infrastructure Plan, discussions and advocacy have already commenced for the replacement of this popular neighbourhood house and it is hoped that this significant investment by Council will be the catalyst for investment from other levels of government.

Manningham Mayor, Deirdre Diamante, said the existing community house needs replacing to bring programs and services together.

"The Community House is widely used and offers a variety of programs and services in learning, fitness and art for all ages, and includes a well-loved childcare facility.

“The current building is coming to the end of its useful life, has limited accessibility and is too small to cater to all programs. These limitations have resulted in programs moving to different locations and spread across multiple local venues.

“By bringing these programs together into one building with better access and more space, we can improve efficiency and better support the community’s growing needs.”

The location of the new property, adjacent to the existing Community House at 572 Park Road, will allow for more space for the variety of programs on offer.

“Located in the heart of Park Orchards, as part of a community and education precinct and near public bus transport, the site will maintain convenient access to childcare, schools, recreational areas, and shops.” Cr Diamante added.

The purchase of 576-578 Park Road is part of Council’s long-term planning to replace this important neighbourhood house for Park Orchards.

Neighbourhood houses are predominantly funded by government grants and additional state and commonwealth government funding will be needed to deliver this new community facility.

“We have purchased this property as part of our long-term plan for the community house and local area. We’re pleased to be able to secure a site for a new centre in Park Orchards and will continue to advocate for State and Federal funding to deliver it.”

The purchase was funded by Council’s Strategic Fund which is part of its 10 Year Financial Plan 2024/25 to 2033/34.

For more information, visit Your Say Manningham.

Council has provided a submission to the Urban Design and Landscape Plan (UDLP) for the next stage of the Eastern Freeway Upgrades, as part of the North East Link Program (NELP).  

NELP recently exhibited the latest UDLP for the Eastern Freeway Upgrade from Tram Road to Springvale Road for community review and feedback, providing information about the project design, landscape plans and architectural plans.

We have provided recommendations throughout the submission that aim to improve the overall design and net community benefit for Manningham residents. 

Our submission identifies various matters in the UDLP for attention by NELP and reiterates Council’s strong and ongoing advocacy to ensure: 

• no net loss of open space results from the project, 
• a sensitive environmental approach including no further undergrounding of the Koonung Creek,
• active transport connectivity and safety are maximised, including safety at underpasses, and; 
• Net-community benefit outcomes are achieved through additional benefits and upgrades. 

We have also sought full transparency and accountability from NELP and its contractors on an agreed, documented and effective tree removal process, while maintaining our position for vegetation removal to be minimised to the greatest possible extent. 

Our detailed submission focuses on key areas across: 

• Net-community benefit 
• Open space 
• Urban design 
• Active transport connectivity and safety  
• Amenity 
• Future proofing 
• Local contexts and knowledge  
• Environmental impacts 
• Trees and landscape 
• Art, culture and history 
   

We lodged our submission in September 2025.

For more information, please download the Urban Design and Landscape Plan submission. - D25/47927 

For more information and to view the UDLP, visit Tram Road to Springvale Road - Victoria’s Big Build. 

What’s next? 

North East Link Project will consider all written comments and submissions received, then finalise the UDLP and submit it to the Minister for Planning for approval. 

After the Minister for Planning has approved the UDLP, the community will be updated on how feedback was considered. 

While North East Link refines the design for the Eastern Freeway Upgrades from Tram to Springvale Road through this UDLP – you’ll start to see the team setting up construction compounds for workers and preparing for further works along the Eastern Freeway. 

Council also continues to engage actively with North East Link beyond the UDLP process, including by reviewing detailed design packs, providing comments on upcoming construction and communications activities, and advocating for key community and environmental outcomes. While Council is only a stakeholder in this State-led project, we are doing our utmost to ensure the needs of our community are considered at all stages of the project.   

You can read more on the Big Build website and sign up to receive email updates. 

North East Link will notify the community once exhibition dates for a UDLP for the remaining stage of the Eastern Freeway Upgrades, from Hoddle Street to Burke Road, are released.