Reservoir master plan a missed opportunity
AS A local resident and regular visitor to Yan Yean Reservoir, I am deeply disappointed by Melbourne Water’s 2026 Revitalising Yan Yean Reservoir Master Plan.
This project was sold to the community as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to unlock one of Melbourne’s most significant landscape assets. The consultation held in 2022–2023 created genuine excitement. Locals strongly supported the idea of opening up more of the reservoir for low-impact recreation such as longer walking and cycling trails, access to the water’s edge, and potentially activities like fishing and non-powered boating.
Instead, Melbourne Water’s master plan appears to have taken the safest and easiest path: more sealed surfaces, wider roads, and more car parking in the existing picnic precinct, and deferring the north and south precinct extensions to an “unknown future date.”
That is not revitalisation. It is a retreat driven by risk avoidance.
The north and south precinct extensions are not optional extras. They are the key to dispersing visitors, reducing congestion, creating meaningful loop trails, and allowing people to actually experience the reservoir landscape rather than being confined to one overcrowded node.
Without them, Yan Yean remains a small picnic area surrounded by a vast locked-away landscape.
What is most concerning is the assumption that increasing vehicle capacity will improve the visitor experience. Wider roads and more car parks will only funnel more people into a confined space.
This will destroy the very qualities that make Yan Yean special, which is peace, quiet, reflection, and the sense of standing beside an immense water body looking out toward distant hills.
Yan Yean should be a place of tranquillity and immersion. Not a congested precinct where families compete for picnic space, parking spots, and breathing room.
This issue matters more than ever. Communities are still recovering from pandemic disruption, cost-of-living pressures, and increasing global uncertainty. In times like these, access to natural open space is not a luxury. It is essential infrastructure for mental health, physical wellbeing and resilience.
Other states have shown this can be done. South Australia has successfully opened reservoir reserves for public recreation, including walking, cycling, fishing and kayaking, proving that operational risks and stakeholder constraints can be managed when there is genuine leadership and commitment.
Yan Yean Reservoir is one of the greatest natural assets in Melbourne’s north.
It should become a flagship liveability destination for our region, not a project remembered for building more car parks while leaving the best parts closed.
I urge Melbourne Water, and our elected representatives, to revisit this master plan and prioritise what the community actually asked for: meaningful public access to the north and south precincts, with clear staging and defined timelines.
This opportunity must not be wasted.
Heath Gifford
Yan Yean
Concern over planning application
I WOULD like to bring Seymour residents’ attention to a planning application for a drive-through coffee shop on the High Street roundabout.
Nearby residents have lodged 37 objections with Mitchell Shire Council to this proposal. There were negligible submissions in favour of the proposal.
Traffic congestion from this development will affect the Seymour Central Business District. Increased traffic caused by an extra exit point on the roundabout for a commercial drive-through business with an estimated 53 customers per hour will cause enormous congestion. This congestion in conjunction with a projected increase in traffic through this roundabout from the new estates in Tarcombe Road will cause increased traffic and congestion elsewhere in the Seymour CBD.
Emergency vehicle access in and out of Seymour will become difficult. The planning application sits on a roundabout used by emergency services vehicles from Seymour Police, Ambulance Victoria accessing the Seymour Urgent Care Centre, and CFA vehicles. Traffic congestion on the roundabout will affect us all when urgent emergency service vehicle movement is affected.
I hope the council declines this application, thereby ensuring safety and amenity for all Seymour residents.
Anna Pinnuck
Butler Street resident
Seymour
• Council has told the North Central Review the matter will be discussed at the Community Questions and Hearings Committee meeting on Monday, March 2. All submitters have been sent a letter inviting them to attend.
The application has been made by Solve Town Planning on behalf of Happy Valley Two Pty Ltd.
Thanks for promoting Marfan
I WISH to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the North Central Review and journalist Michael Thompson, for illuminating Marfan syndrome so brightly on the front page of the publication with the amazing Marfan portrait painted by local artist Louise Barnes to raise life saving awareness.
Heartfelt gratitude to Ratana for allowing the windows of her Broadford and Kilmore Bakery stores to be decorated and illuminated for the Marfan Syndrome Awareness Month of February.
Ratana’s staff, including my sister in law Adele, were all amazing as they emersed themselves into their efficient work ethic serving customers and becoming “instant ambassadors” for the cause when answering customer inquiries about Marfan.
Adele has endured the most heartbreaking life experiences with Marfan in her family seeing her son Broderick go through multiple major aortic/heart surgeries and losing her six-year-old grandson Baylyn to a severe early onset form of Marfan.
The bravery of Adele and her family is inspirational.
While prominent National landmarks were illuminated in red for Marfan the Broadford Kilmore Bakery will remain a standout for every one who was touched by or involved to share and show a heart for Marfan syndrome. What a wonderful community.
Sally Ferguson
Broadford
