Produce park plans

We moved to Drouin less than two years ago, and chose our new home partly due to its proximity to Civic Park.

Over this time we were disappointed to see quite a number of gum trees removed only to be replaced by a single small oak. They were apparently deemed to be diseased. Dead trees were removed with the reason given that they were dangerous. However we have seen suburban parks where they have been trimmed, and had nesting boxes attached.

Our biggest disappointment came with the removal of nearly all of the vegetation surrounding the lake. We asked to see the plan of what was proposed, but there was none, but were given a verbal description of what was proposed, but it was hard to visualise from this.

What has occurred is that mature trees and shrubs have been removed. They could have been pruned.

When we spoke to people working on the project we were told that native plants are boring and the new garden was to have a Japanese theme. All we have observed is that there have been many Japanese maples planted.

We have discovered that what has been destroyed was a bit of Drouin's heritage. The bridge that was there could have been repaired and its character retained, but a new generic bridge was installed instead.

The lake and native garden had a sign denoting that it had been designed by Leo Boeyen. Even the sign has been removed. There were trees that provided shade for individuals, families and animals and birds.The alteration to the path has not included the spoon drain or slope that enabled water to flow into the lake either.

The new garden is neat and attractive, but could have been an addition to Civic Park instead of a replacement for what had been a very pleasant area. Civic park could well do with more trees and shrubs, rather than less.

It would also be good to be able to see what future plans there are for this park so we could understand what is happening and why to this loved local park that is used daily by families, birds, bus loads of people, dog lovers, cyclists and more. Joan McColl Drouin