{"id":845317,"date":"2026-08-06T07:10:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T07:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845317\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T07:10:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T07:10:22","slug":"manningham-council-compulsory-acquisition-residents-blindsided-by-secret-plan-to-demolish-homes-for-new-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845317\/","title":{"rendered":"Manningham Council compulsory acquisition: Residents blindsided by secret plan to demolish homes for new parks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rachael<\/p>\n

August 6, 2026 \u2014 1:24pm<\/p>\n

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Marija Kustura has lived in the home she built in a quiet pocket of Doncaster East for 26 years. She was making plans for her elderly parents to live there as well.<\/p>\n

Until she learnt of her local council\u2019s quiet plan to buy and demolish her house to replace it with a park.<\/p>\n

\"MarijaMarija Kustura\u2019s Doncaster East home is under threat of being acquired and demolished to create a pocket park.Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

Manningham Council in 2020 identified Kustura\u2019s home for acquisition, but only revealed its plans to her in a letter sent in May this year. Last week, a council rates notice revealed the value of her home had fallen by $50,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a home that I built and I want to stay here. I don\u2019t want to move,\u201d Kustura said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Balwyn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHow am I supposed to find another property when the new properties are double-storey and they don\u2019t have the same quality as I have at the moment?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kustura\u2019s home is one of seven properties in Doncaster, Doncaster East<\/a> and Bulleen<\/a> that the council is considering compulsorily acquiring to create or extend existing parks.<\/p>\n

The size of the proposed reserves are three or four residential blocks that connect with current parkland or council properties.<\/p>\n

If the plan gets the green light and is eventually approved by the state\u2019s planning minister, the homes could be acquired within the next 20 years.<\/p>\n

Kustura, who is in her 50s, wants to stay in her home for the rest of her life as several family members live nearby. The healthcare worker had planned to renovate her single-storey home for her ageing parents to live with her, but that plan has been put on hold.<\/p>\n

She said she felt increasingly vulnerable and had trouble sleeping since she learnt about the proposal, and had no intention of putting her home up for sale.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

She has been unable to find any similar properties without owners\u2019 corporation fees, which she currently does not pay and has not budgeted for.<\/p>\n

Kustura said she was blindsided by the rates notice, which showed the market value of her home \u2013 determined by the council \u2013 had decreased, while the value of a family member\u2019s home in the next street had increased, despite no changes to either property in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

After she was told of the potential acquisition, Kustura asked a real estate agent to value her property, and the agent found it could be worth about $150,000 more than the figure in the rates notice.<\/p>\n

There are vacant lots, car parks and commercial properties nearby, while multiple properties in the street have sold in the past few years. The council bought a property that shares a fence with Kustura\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

\"KusturaKustura has been unable to find any equivalent properties for sale in her neighbourhood.Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand there has to be pocket parks within certain residential areas, but there are existing pocket parks within our area,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Doncaster home owner Kirpal, who asked not to use his surname, said finding out about the acquisition plan was a \u201cbolt from the blue\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost fell backwards. No forewarning, no consultation, no communication,\u201d the father of three said.<\/p>\n

Kirpal\u2019s son lives at the property, but the family wanted to build four townhouses in the future so they could live together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really am disgusted,\u201d Kirpal said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a housing crisis, pulling down well-appointed and very liveable properties for open space makes little logical sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manningham councillors were last week due to decide whether to continue with the acquisitions but delayed the vote until later this year. If endorsed, the process takes about 18 months to finalise. Residents will have opportunities to try to prevent the acquisition.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Stonnington<\/a><\/p>\n

The council\u2019s 2014 open spaces strategy was developed so all residents can have access to suitable open spaces within 400 metres of their home.<\/p>\n

Council documents say the proposed acquisitions will enhance the accessibility, usability and distribution of public open space. Eighteen per cent of land in Manningham is open space, while multiple properties earmarked for potential acquisition are in areas with increasing density or the highest density in the council area.<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s chief executive was tasked with negotiating the acquisitions of 13 properties under a \u201cconfidential report\u201d in May 2023, and five properties have since been acquired on the open market.<\/p>\n

Kustura and other affected residents were notified of the plan in a six-paragraph letter sent by registered post in May and invited to meet with council workers.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a council spokesperson said no final decision had been made and the councillors\u2019 vote was delayed to gather more information and consider feedback.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Surrey<\/a><\/p>\n

The purpose of the plan, the spokesperson said, was to reflect on how the council could address gaps in open space provision and respond to the needs of a growing community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand the concerns that have been expressed by residents whose properties may be impacted by the proposal,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise that any proposal such as this requires careful consideration, and that is why additional time is being taken to further examine the information before determining the next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Independent assessors are tasked with valuing properties which are compulsorily acquired, a different process to how rates are determined.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Geoff<\/a><\/p>\n

Alan March, a professor of urban planning at the University of Melbourne, said it was relatively uncommon \u2013 but not unheard of \u2013 for homes to be acquired to create small suburban parks.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged lives were disrupted by such proposals, but planners had to also consider the overarching public benefit to the community by creating more open space, particularly as more high-density developments<\/a> are built.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project has some challenges in it, it really does look like it\u2019s going to impact people, but on balance, we need to make these hard choices to bring about good quality of life for people in our cities into the future,\u201d March said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore authorities in Melbourne and Victoria should be taking these sorts of forward actions because there are swaths of land in some municipalities that have no parks at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get the day\u2019s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"RachaelRachael Ward<\/a> is a journalist in the City team at The Age. Contact her at rachael.ward@theage.com.auConnect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 6, 2026 \u2014 1:24pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-845317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}